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Bait and Switch' - Liz Cheney Book Tears Into Mike Johnson Over Pro-Trump January 6 Brief - Books - The Guardian
Bait and Switch' - Liz Cheney Book Tears Into Mike Johnson Over Pro-Trump January 6 Brief - Books - The Guardian
Books
Liz Cheney’s book accuses Mike Johnson of ‘being less than honest’. Photograph: Mark Makela/Reuters
Cheney also says Johnson was neither the author of the brief nor a
“constitutional law expert”, as he was “telling colleagues he was”. Pro-
Trump lawyers actually wrote the document, Cheney writes.
Her book, Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, will be published
next week. The Guardian obtained a copy.
Johnson became speaker last month, after McCarthy was ejected by the
Trumpist far right, the first House speaker ever removed by his own party.
On Tuesday, CNN ran excerpts from Cheney’s book, quoting her view that
Johnson “appeared especially susceptible to flattery from Trump and
aspired to being anywhere in Trump’s orbit”.
CNN also reported that Cheney writes: “When I confronted him with the
flaws in his legal arguments, Johnson would often concede, or say
something to the effect of, ‘We just need to do this one last thing for
Trump.’”
The case in which the amicus brief was filed saw Republican states led by
Texas attempt to persuade the supreme court to side with Trump over his
electoral fraud lies.
It did not. As Cheney points out, even the two most rightwing justices,
Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, who wanted to hear the case, said
they would not have sided with the complainants.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/29/speaker-mike-johnson-dishonest-january-6-brief-liz-cheney-book 2/9
12/6/23, 4:05 AM ‘Bait and switch’: Liz Cheney book tears into Mike Johnson over pro-Trump January 6 brief | Books | The Guardian
Johnson, Cheney says, insisted he was not trying to pressure people and
simply wanted to show support for Trump, by “affirm[ing] for the court
(and our constituents back home) our serious concerns with the integrity
of our electoral system” and seeking “careful, timely review”.
“Mike was seriously misleading our members,” Cheney writes. “The brief
did assert as facts known to the amici many allegations of fraud and serious
wrongdoing by officials in multiple states.”
Johnson, she says, then told Republicans that 105 House members had
expressed interest. “Not one of them had seen the brief,” Cheney writes.
She also says he added “a new inaccurate claim”, that state officials had
been “clearly shown” to have violated the constitution.
“But virtually all those claims had already been heard by the courts and
decided against Trump.”
Calling the brief “poorly written”, Cheney says she doubted Johnson’s
honesty and asked him who wrote it, as “to assert facts in a federal court
without personal knowledge” would “present ethical questions for
anyone who is a member of the bar”.
“Mike Johnson blamed a ‘clerical error’ … [which] was also the rationale
given to the supreme court for the revised filing. In fact, McCarthy had
first chosen not to be on the brief, then changed his mind, likely because
of pressure from Trump.”
It took the court a few hours to reject the Texas suit. But the saga was not
over. Trump continued to seek to overturn his defeat, culminating in the
deadly attack on Congress on 6 January 2021 by supporters whom he told
to “fight like hell”.
Cheney takes other shots at Johnson. But in picking apart his role in the
amicus brief, she strikes close to claims made for his legal abilities as he
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/29/speaker-mike-johnson-dishonest-january-6-brief-liz-cheney-book 3/9
12/6/23, 4:05 AM ‘Bait and switch’: Liz Cheney book tears into Mike Johnson over pro-Trump January 6 brief | Books | The Guardian
grasped the speaker’s gavel last month. Johnson “was telling our
colleagues he was a constitutional law expert, while advocating positions
that were constitutionally infirm”, Cheney writes.
“A team of lawyers who were also apparently advising Trump had in fact
drafted [it],” she writes. “Mike Johnson had left the impression that he
was responsible for the brief, but he was just carrying Trump’s water.”
Cheney also considers the run-up to January 6 and the historic day itself.
Before it, she writes, she and Johnson discussed mounting danger of
serious unrest. He agreed, she says, but cited support for Trump among
Republican voters as a reason not to abandon the president. Such support
from Johnson and other senior Republicans, Cheney writes, allowed
Trump to create a full-blown crisis.
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