Cheney to debate Wyoming GOP foes after Jan. 6 hearings

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Liz Cheney is returning to Wyoming after a busy week of listening to public testimony earlier than the Home Jan. 6 committee to debate Republican main challengers together with Harriet Hageman, her Donald Trump-endorsed opponent.

Cheney will probably draw criticism in Thursday’s televised debate for investigating the previous president’s effort to overturn the 2020 election and his encouragement of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol.

Whereas Cheney has taken a key position as certainly one of simply two Republicans on the Home committee, she’s confronted a backlash amongst Republicans in deep-red Wyoming.

The state Republican Occasion final yr censured her and voted to not acknowledge her as a Republican. Even so, Cheney has if something elevated her nationwide profile, out-raising Hageman by a nicely over 2-to-1 margin over the primary three months of 2022.

Thursday’s debate hosted by Wyoming PBS in Sheridan will probably be closed to the general public for safety causes and to stop individuals from disrupting the occasion, the station’s Basic Supervisor Terry Dugas stated in an announcement.

“There are common stories within the media of political figures and public servants being assaulted. Even in Wyoming, political figures obtain loss of life threats,” Dugas stated.

Reached by telephone, Dugas declined to explain any particular safety issues however stated the choice to shut the occasion to the general public was his and never requested by any of the candidates.

Cheney and Hageman each have been campaigning across the state, however Cheney’s latest appearances on stay TV as vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee have been quasi-campaign occasions, too, on a nationwide stage.

The controversy comes simply two days after Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide in Trump’s White Home, testified earlier than the Home committee that Trump was informed that armed protesters had been at a rally he led simply earlier than the riot, and that Trump tried to go together with the gang he inspired to march on the Capitol.

The controversy at Sheridan School will characteristic Cheney and 4 challengers, none as nicely generally known as Hageman, a Cheyenne ranching and pure sources lawyer.

The opposite three are Republican state Sen. Anthony Bouchard, of Cheyenne; retired U.S. Military Col. Denton Knapp, of Gillette; and businesswoman Robyn Belinskey, of Sheridan.