Liz Cheney says Madison Cawthorn’s rhetoric on election fraud “seems intended to incite violence”

One of the two Republicans who sit on the House select committee investigating the deadly January 6 attack on the Capitol said a GOP colleague is “using language that seems intended to incite violence.”

“I think every member ought to condemn that, and I’d like to see Leader McCarthy very clearly condemn it and explain how dangerous that is,” Wyoming Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney told CBS News.

She was talking about freshman GOP Congressman Madison Cawthorn’s remarks last weekend;  while in his home state of North Carolina, he said that there would be “bloodshed” if elections continue to be “rigged” and even suggested he, too, might join the fight.

“I will tell you, as much as I am willing to defend our liberty at all cost, there is nothing that I would dread doing more than having to pick up arms against a fellow American,” Cawthorn told members of the Macon County, South Carolina, Republican Party.

A spokesperson for Cawthorn vehemently denied that the congressman was advocating for violence as he spread the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen, claiming Cawthorn was “advocating for violence not to occur.”

“[Cawthorn] fears others would erroneously choose that route and strongly states that election integrity issues should be resolved peacefully and never through violence,” spokesperson Luke Ball said in a statement.

Cawthorn spoke at the Stop the Steal at the Ellipse on January 6 before the crowd marched to the Capitol, and praised them, saying, “This crowd has some fight in it.”

Asked by an attendee at the South Carolina event last weekend when Cawthorn would “call us back to Washington again,” he replied, “We have a few things in motion I can’t make public right now, but this is something that we’re working on.”

But Ball said that Cawthorn is not working on a protest in Washington and was referring only to working on securing the release of those who were incarcerated for their actions on January 6.

Cawthorn’s remarks originally appeared on the Macon County GOP’s Facebook page but were removed after they came under scrutiny.

No members of House Republican leadership have addressed Cawthorn’s comments. A spokesperson for Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy did not answer whether leadership is considering taking any action against Cawthorn.

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