Late Tuesday, Congress voted 222-208 with only two Republicans joining their Democratic colleagues to hold Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress. This comes after weeks of Meadows’ cowardice, pretend cooperation, and obfuscation of the Jan. 6 committee’s work to uncover what exactly happened and who knew what and when concerning the attempted coup d’etat at our nation’s Capitol building at the beginning of 2021.

Before the vote, Republicans like Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio—a guy who “definitely spoke to” Trump “that day” and who no less than half a dozen former college kids under his charge say he knew and did nothing about sexual assaults on the Ohio State University wrestling team when he was an assistant coach there—got up to do what he does best: lie. The angle Jordan and virtually everyone trying to cover their tracks in regards to the Jan. 6 insurgency are taking is that no committee can see any information or investigate any attempts at a coup d’etat because executive privilege covers everything in immunity. Hey, it works for abusive and murderous overreach for law enforcement, so why not try here, right?

However, there’s a battle in the GOP going on right now between the old guard and the new, less-encumbered-by-laws-or-the-open-embrace-of-fascism crew—many of whom are suspected of having been conspirators in various degrees to the Jan. 6 attempted takeover of our government. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming was one of two Republicans who voted to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress Tuesday night, and she wanted to make it clear how full of hypocritical crud Rep. Jim Jordan was. She let him have it in a very succinct response on the floor of the House before the vote.

Rep. Liz Cheney is fighting for her political life, and luckily that fight aligns with the need to really investigate what exactly happened on Jan. 6, 2021. She has been crucial in bringing to public light some of the most salient facts about who knew what and when and what they did or did not do in regards to the Capitol building insurrection. She began her time on the floor of the House by calling Jordan full of shit and a liar. She then called Republican Minority Leader of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy a coward, a hypocrite … and a liar. 

Cheney began by politely pointing out that Jordan is full of shit. “Let me just make sure people understand some facts in light of some of the charges that my colleague from Ohio just made, which are flat false.” She went on to enumerate how Jordan is lying (i.e., full of shit): “Number one, Mr. Meadows refused to show up for his deposition. The committee scheduled the deposition after extensive coordination with Mr. Meadows at a day he chose, that he selected, and then he refused to show up. He refused to show up to testify about nonprivileged questions.” And just in case you forgot who Cheney was calling a liar: “So my colleague from Ohio can talk as much as he likes about executive privilege and about George Washington and about what is crucial to the survival of the republic, with which I agree, but we are talking here about testimony about nonprivileged materials.”

She then tried to remind the GOP in the chamber that they all saw this insurrection for what it was when it happened—at least, most of them said they did. “Secondly, Madam Speaker, I would say that we all on this side of the aisle used to be in agreement about what had happened on January 6. There was a brief period of time, days perhaps, when we were in agreement. Standing perhaps at this microphone, the minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, said this on January 13: ‘The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump.’”

What happened? McCarthy is a coward, explains Cheney—and a liar. “Unfortunately, Mr. McCarthy’s position changed on this issue. Mr. McCarthy then worked against, voted against the resolution that would have created a bipartisan commission to investigate these matters. And he withdrew his nominees to this committee. Let me say that again: He withdrew his nominees to this committee.” 

Cheney ends her piece of business of the House floor with a reminder of what Congress is doing and what they are supposed to do in our democracy. “This committee is engaged in critical investigative and legislative activity for which there is no greater purpose in terms of Congress’ responsibility, no matter what my colleague on the other side may claim in terms of Mr. Meadows.”

An important reminder here is that Cheney is fighting for her wing of the Republican Party to regain control over their political party. Cheney’s politics are predominantly abhorrent and her service on the Jan. 6 committee serves both the purpose of upholding our democracy while also weeding out many of the people in her political party who want to replace her. House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, who has been somehow trying to out-racist Cheney in order to fill the Wyoming representative’s descending star in the party, didn’t even support Trump’s policies as much as Cheney did. This is not about policy, it’s about power.

The good news is in this particular battle, Cheney’s neocon pedigree has helped temper traditional media outlets from defaulting to talk of “partisan politics” while a congressional committee investigates the attempted coup d’etat of our government.

Enjoy.

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