Liz Cheney urges the Justice Department to prosecute Trump if it finds evidence of crimes

US Republican Representative Liz Cheney speaks during the third hearing of the US House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the US Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 16, 2022.

Liz Cheney urged the Justice Department to prosecute Donald Trump if there is evidence that he committed crimes during the attack on the US Capitol.

In an interview with CNN, the Wyoming Republican said that not doing so would call into question whether America is a nation of Laws.

The Justice Department has to make decisions about prosecution according to Cheney. How do we call ourselves a nation of laws if we don't prosecute if the facts are there?

According to Cheney, Trump is guilty of the most serious neglect of duty of any president in our nation's history.

Cheney cited a federal district court judge in California who said in March that Trump and conservative attorney John Eastman probably committed crimes in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and keep Trump in office.

The question of whether Trump and his associates should face prosecution for their monthslong effort to subvert the 2020 election has roiled the anti- Trump wing of the Republican Party.

On one side are voices such as Cheney's, who insist that the facts must be followed even if Trump prosecutes the former president in order to make him a martyr.

On the other side is a more cautious and quieter group of Republicans who are worried that the legal hurdles to proving Trump committed a crime are too high. They argue that prosecuting a former president without a conviction would risk handing Trump an enormous political and moral victory.