New Hampshire CNN viewers are being reminded of Donald Trump’s coup attempt ahead of his “town hall” on that network Wednesday night, thanks to Liz Cheney, the former Wyoming congresswoman and vice chair of the House Jan. 6 committee.
The minute-long ad began airing on cable providers that serve the state Tuesday and will continue running through the broadcast set for 8 p.m. local time, when the former president is set to take questions from voters in the first-in-the-nation primary state.
“Donald Trump is the only president in American history who has refused to guarantee the peaceful transfer of power,” Cheney opens the ad, which is filled with violent imagery from Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump’s followers assaulted police officers and broke into the Capitol in an attempt to block the congressional ceremony certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s election win.
“He betrayed millions of Americans by telling them the election was stolen,” she states. “Rather than accept his defeat, he mobilized a mob to come to Washington and march on the Capitol. Then he watched on television while the mob attacked law enforcement, invaded the Capitol and hunted the vice president. He refused for three hours to tell the mob to leave. … Today, he celebrates those who attacked our Capitol.”
Cheney, who is never pictured in the ad, closes with a warning she has repeated often since that day, and which eventually led to her excommunication from the GOP and the loss of her House seat: “Donald Trump has proven he is unfit for office. Donald Trump is a risk America can never take again.”
Trump’s campaign staff did not respond to JS’s queries about the ad. Trump himself posted on his personal social media platform Tuesday morning that CNN is “rightfully desperate to get those fantastic (TRUMP!) ratings once again. They made me a deal I couldn’t refuse!!!”
It was unclear what Trump meant by a “deal.” A CNN spokesperson did not respond to a JS query on the matter.
Trump is under criminal investigation by both prosecutors in Georgia as well as the Department of Justice for his actions leading up to and on Jan. 6, 2021, and is the target of a second DOJ probe for his refusal to hand over top secret documents he had at his Mar-a-Lago country club in defiance of a subpoena.
He is nevertheless the polling leader for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, with most of his rivals reluctant to criticize him for any of his behavior, including his attempt to end American democracy to remain in power.
A Republican consultant familiar with Cheney’s political action committee, The Great Task, said she has not ruled out running for that nomination herself, mainly to have the profile to prevent Trump from winning. “Her mission and her goal is to make sure that Donald Trump never gets near the Oval Office again,” the consultant said. “This is part of that effort.”