A former federal prosecutor poured cold water on House Republicans’ claims that former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) broke the law for her work on the Jan. 6 committee – and suggested that a GOP report released this week “crosses the line.”
“There is nothing there,” Elie Honig explained during an appearance on CNN’s “NewsNight” when asked if Republicans made a case for any crimes on Cheney’s part in the report released Tuesday.
Honig, a senior legal analyst for the network, added that the report should not in any way be viewed as “a pretext” or “any sort of foundation for prosecutors” to zoom in on criminal charges for Cheney based on her involvement on the select committee that investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“The part that recommends criminal charges against Elizabeth Cheney is remarkably unspecific and way off base,” Honig said Wednesday. “The basis that they allege is that Liz Cheney had secret communications – oh secret communications with a witness – what she's supposed to do? She's an investigator, she's a part of an investigative committee, this is what you do.”
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The report’s recommendation that the Justice Department pursue criminal charges against Cheney crossed a line for the legal analyst.
“The report does have all sorts of allegations that Elizabeth Cheney and other members of the committee and witnesses had bad motives – they didn't like Donald Trump, they wanted to hurt Donald Trump politically," he said. Even if true, Honig added, “it's still not a crime with respect to Liz Cheney, and that's where the report crosses the line.”
Former Rep. Gail Huff Brown (R-NH) pushed back on Honig’s analysis and pointed out that some Americans are concerned about, not only what happened on Jan. 6, but with the subsequent investigation.
“If it means opening up and making that transparent to everyone, even opening another investigation,” Brown said. “So what? Maybe there is some kind of witness tampering.”
