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Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) was the organizer of an open letter from all living former defense ministers against the military intervening in electoral disputes.

The revelation was made to Susan Glasser of The New Yorker by Eric Edelman, a friend of Cheney’s who served as an advisor to her father.

“Cheney’s break with the House Republican Conference has become almost final in the past few days, but months have passed. Edelman revealed that Cheney himself had secretly staged an unprecedented statement by all ten living former defense ministers, including her father, in the Washington Post to warn of Trump’s efforts to politicize the military, ”Glasser reported.

“In addition to recruiting her father, the congresswoman personally asked others, including Trump’s first defense secretary, Jim Mattis, to attend. “She was the one who generated it because she was so concerned about what Trump might do,” Edelman said. “It speaks to the extent to which she was concerned about the threat to our democracy that Trump posed.” The mail came out on January 3rd, just three days before the Capitol Uprising, ”she said.

It wasn’t the only action she took.

Little was noticed at the time that Cheney had tried again to combat Trump’s post-election lies, a twenty-one page memo written by Cheney and her lawyer husband, Phil Perry, and sent to the entire House Republican Conference on Jan. 3 was distributed. In it, Cheney exposed Trump’s false claims of electoral fraud and warned her colleagues that the vote to reverse the election results would, as Trump stressed, “set an exceptionally dangerous precedent.” But of course they weren’t listening. Even after the Capitol storm, one hundred and forty-seven Republican lawmakers voted against accepting the election results, ”Glaser wrote.

The joint letter was signed by Ashton Carter, Dick Cheney, William Cohen, Mark Esper, Robert Gates, Chuck Hagel, James Mattis, Leon Panetta, William Perry, and Donald Rumsfeld.

“American elections and the resulting peaceful transfers of power are hallmarks of our democracy. With one single and tragic exception, which has cost more Americans the lives than all of our other wars combined, the United States has had an uninterrupted record of such transitions since 1789, including during times of partisan struggle, war, epidemics, and economic depression. This year should not be an exception, ”wrote the former defense ministers.

“Our elections took place. Recounts and audits were carried out. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. The governors have confirmed the results. And the electoral college voted. The time to question the results has expired. The time has come for the electoral college’s votes to be formally counted as required by the Constitution and the Statute, ”they said. “As senior Defense Department leaders have noted, the US military has no role in determining the outcome of a US election.” Efforts to involve US forces in electoral dispute resolution would lead us into dangerous, illegal, and unconstitutional territory. Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such activities would be responsible for the grave consequences of their actions for our republic, including potential criminal sanctions. “