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IrelandCheney says McConnell could have changed Trump's impeachment outcome
C-SPAN's Harvard interview excerpt pairs her refusal to second-guess her own vote with an argument about why other Republicans held back.
C-SPAN
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 212,187 views a day, 14 times a normal first day on this channel (15,098).
Former Rep. Liz Cheney says Trump would have been convicted if not for Sen. McConnell
Asked whether voting to impeach Donald Trump was worth risking her political career, Liz Cheney says she never weighed her future that way. Her sharper criticism is reserved for Republicans who, she says, thought Trump's political career was already over.
In an interview excerpt carried by C-SPAN, the former Wyoming representative argues that Mitch McConnell could have brought enough Republican senators with him to secure a conviction in Trump's second impeachment trial. She describes his decision not to vote to convict as a political calculation with lasting consequences.
The Short drew roughly 210,000 views in its first day, far beyond C-SPAN's usual start for that format. Another excerpt presenting Cheney's argument about McConnell also drew an unusually large audience.
The exchange takes place at Harvard Kennedy School, where former Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx asks Cheney whether she ever second-guessed her impeachment vote after the January 6 Capitol attack. She says she did not, and recalls an initial period when House Republicans were largely united in condemning Trump's conduct.
Her explanation for the subsequent shift is that Republicans began assuming Trump would no longer be accepted on the national stage. In Cheney's account, that belief made taking a politically difficult vote seem unnecessary. She identifies McConnell's decision as the crucial missed opportunity, arguing that other Republican senators would have followed his lead.
A Republican who represented Wyoming in the U.S. House from 2017 to 2023 and chaired the House Republican Conference from 2019 to 2021. She is known for opposing Donald Trump.
More on Wikipedia ›A Republican U.S. senator from Kentucky since 1985. He led Senate Republicans from 2007 to 2025, including as majority leader during Trump's first presidency.
More on Wikipedia ›A Democratic politician and lawyer who served as U.S. transportation secretary from 2013 to 2017. He previously served as mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina.
More on Wikipedia ›Published on Trari
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The numbers
Both Cheney excerpts drew far more views than C-SPAN's usual first day for Shorts. The main clip's comment section was also several times busier than usual.
