The Select Committee investigating the insurrection of January 6th held a rare public hearing to announce their contempt of Congress finding against Mark Meadows, former chief of staff to Trump in his final days in office.

The statement of Liz Cheney, (R-Wyoming) is stunning in its detail. Not only does it completely excoriate Meadows for his refusal to testify to the committee, it makes the direct statement of dereliction of duty by the former President.

This is a very key phrase. Dereliction of duty is a specific offense under United States Code Title 10, Section 892, Article 92 and applies to all branches of the US military. A service member who is derelict has willfully refused to perform his duties or has incapacitated himself in such a way that he cannot perform his duties. It applies to the former President in his capacity of Commander-in-Chief during his time in office. And then there was the pesky issue of his Oath of Office, which he utterly ignored.

What is also stunning about Liz Cheney’s statement is the revelations, as she read text messages turned over by Meadows, of how many hardcore Republicans and even right wing media personalities were trying to get Trump to stop the mob.

Here is the video of Cheney’s statement in full.

Liz Cheney has given the country and the world much to consider here. The facts of what happened on January 6th continue to be documented and dissected and every day amplify the escalating conclusion that it was much worse than we thought.

We almost lost this country to a wannabe dictator. This cannot be allowed to happen again. It was and still is treason on the part of Trump and his faction of enablers. The sitting members of Congress who supported the attempted coup need to be expelled from Congress forthwith under the 14th Amendment and then prosecuted.