Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming who serves as the committee’s vice chair, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday that the committee was speaking with Thomas’ attorney.
“We certainly hope she will agree to come voluntarily, but the committee is fully prepared to consider a subpoena if she doesn’t. I hope it doesn’t come to that. I hope that she’ll come voluntarily,” Cheney said. “So it’s very important for us to speak to her and as I said, I hope she will agree to do so voluntarily, but I’m sure we will consider a subpoena if she doesn’t.”
The committee asked Thomas, a Conservative activist, to meet with the panel and provide documents that might be relevant to the investigation. The committee has email correspondence between Thomas and former President Donald Trump’s election lawyer, John Eastman, as well as texts between her and Trump’s White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows. The texts show Thomas urging Meadows to continue the fight to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Eastman and Meadows were also the subject of the committee’s investigation.
No decision yet on Trump’s criminal dismissals
Cheney also said the committee hasn’t decided whether to commit President Donald Trump to a criminal charge, but she believes Trump violated the oath of office and that’s “absolutely something we’re looking into.” .
“I think Donald Trump, the violation of his oath of office, the violation of the Constitution that he committed, is the most serious misconduct of any president in the history of our nation. I think, like I said the committee hasn’t decided yet whether or not we’re going to do criminal referrals. It’s something that we take very seriously. And I would also say that the Department of Justice is certainly very focused on the basis of what we see publicly on what is the biggest criminal investigation in the U.S. But there is no doubt in my mind that the President of the United States is unfit to hold other office.
“I also know that what we have seen in terms of what has happened over the course of what we have become aware of over the past few weeks is deeply disturbing,” she said. “We’ll get to the bottom of it.”
Cheney on his future
Cheney said her work on the Jan. 6 committee “is the most important thing I’ve ever done professionally,” telling Tapper that even if she lost her next re-election race because of her work on the of the committee, there was “no doubt”, it was always worth serving there.
She called her primary race a “very unusual moment, certainly in American politics.”
“I will also say this, I’m not going to lie. I’m not going to say things that aren’t true about the election,” she said. “My opponents are certainly doing this simply for the purpose of getting elected … if I have to choose between keeping a seat in the House of Representatives or protecting the constitutional republic and ensuring that the American people know the truth about Donald Trump, I will choose the Constitution and the truth every day.”
This story has been updated to include more of Cheney’s interview.
