Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y) has deleted a statement on her website condemning the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and demanding that the rioters be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Stefanik deleted the statement on Saturday after former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) posted it to X/Twitter, saying it was a “rare moment of honesty, about the January 6 attack on our Capitol” from the congresswoman.
Cheney posted the screenshot of the since-deleted statement on X/Twitter.
“I’m told that, in response to my prior tweet, [Elise Stefanik] deleted her 1/6/21 statement — that those who stormed the Capitol “must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” Here is Elise’s statement again. Feel free to share,” Cheney wrote.
“This is a tragic day for America. I fully condemn the dangerous violence and destruction that occurred today at the United States Capitol. Americans have a Constitutional right to protest and freedom of speech, but violence in any form is absolutely unacceptable and anti-American,” Stefanik wrote at the time.
“The perpetrators of this un-American violence and destruction must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” she added.
She also thanked members of the United States Capitol Police, “all law enforcement, the National Guard and the bipartisan professional staff of the United States Capitol for protecting the People’s House and the American people.”
Stefanik, who is reportedly being considered for Donald Trump’s running mate, has adopted the former president’s rhetoric calling imprisoned Jan. 6 rioters “hostages.”
Cheney, one of two Republicans who served on the House Committee investigating Jan. 6, has called Stefanik’s hostage comment “outrageous” and “disgusting.”
“If you go and you look at what individuals have been convicted for, who are incarcerated, you’ll find it, you know, extensively, these are people who were involved in violence,” Cheney said in an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” earlier this month.
“It’s a disgrace, and you cannot say you are a member of a party that believes in the rule of law, you cannot say you are pro-law enforcement if you then go out and you say these people are ‘hostages,’ it’s disgraceful,” she added.
