Former Representative Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, issued a stern warning to the Supreme Court Monday over former President Donald Trump's presidential immunity claim.
The former president has sought to use the presidential immunity defense to shield himself from a plethora of criminal and civil challenges. Most notably, Trump, the presumed 2024 GOP presidential nominee, has sought the defense in his federal election interference case surrounding the events that led to the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. That case was brought by Department of Justice (DOJ) special counsel Jack Smith.
The former president was charged in August with four federal felony counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him and claims that the indictment is politically motivated.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court justices will hear oral arguments to rule whether or not presidential immunity protects Trump from facing criminal charges for actions he took while in office.
In a New York Times opinion column published on Monday titled "The Supreme Court Should Rule Swiftly on Trump's Immunity Claim," Cheney discusses Trump's presidential immunity claim as she warns the Supreme Court to conclude their decision on the issue with no delay, adding if Trump's election interference case is delayed the public may "never hear critical and historic evidence."
"The justices should also recognize the profoundly negative impact they may have if the court does not resolve these issues quickly and decisively. If delay prevents this Trump case from being tried this year, the public may never hear critical and historic evidence developed before the grand jury, and our system may never hold the man most responsible for Jan. 6 to account," Cheney wrote.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.
Cheney, who has been amongst the most prominent GOP critics of Trump, served on the committee that investigated the riot in detail. In December 2022, the committee published an 845-page report that said Trump was personally responsible for the riot and recommended he face criminal charges.
In her opinion piece, Cheney noted her role in the committee as she continued to warn against Trump's efforts to delay his trial
"If the trial is delayed past this fall and Mr. Trump wins re-election, he will surely fire the special counsel, order his Justice Department to drop all Jan. 6 cases and try to prevent key grand jury testimony from ever seeing the light of day. I know how Mr. Trump's delay tactics work. Our committee had to spend months litigating his privilege claims (in Trump v. Thompson) before we could gain access to White House records," Cheney wrote.
She added: "The Supreme Court should understand this reality and conclude without delay that no immunity applies here."
Cheney's comments on the issue come after Trump took to Truth Social, his social media platform, where he focused on his presidential immunity claim, often taking aim at President Joe Biden, on Saturday.
"IF THEY TAKE AWAY MY PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY, THEY TAKE AWAY CROOKED JOE BIDEN'S PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY," he wrote in all-caps.
In a separate all-caps post, the former president added: "WITHOUT PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY, IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR A PRESIDENT TO PROPERLY FUNCTION, PUTTING THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN GREAT AND EVERLASTING DANGER!"
Meanwhile, amid Trump's first week of his criminal hush money trial, Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case in New York, denied Trump's request to be excused from his trial to attend Thursday's Court's hearing on his presidential immunity defense.
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Natalie Venegas is a Weekend Reporter at Newsweek based in New York. Her focus is reporting on education, social justice ... Read more
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