Summary of Oath and Honor by Liz Cheney: A Memoir and a Warning

By Justin Reese

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This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book.

Summary of Oath and Honor by Liz Cheney: A Memoir and a Warning

IN THIS SUMMARIZED BOOK, YOU WILL GET:

• Chapter astute outline of the main contents.
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• Exceptionally summarized content that you may skip in the original book

 

Oath and Honor is a first-hand account of the January 6th, 2021 insurrection in Congress, detailing the actions of Donald Trump and his supporters, who breached their oath to the Constitution by disregarding court rulings, plotting to overturn a lawful election, and provoking a violent attack on the Capitol. Liz Cheney witnessed the attack firsthand and led the investigation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: jUSTIN REESE
• Release date: Dec 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223229292

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Prologue

The story of American democracy's unraveling is a tale of the men and women who fought to save it, and the enablers and collaborators who ensured the threat would grow and metastasize. Since 1797, every American president had fulfilled their solemn obligation to guarantee the peaceful transfer of power, but Donald Trump's actions in the 2020 election violated the law and the oath he swore to the Constitution. The threat continues, and the outcome now lies in the hands of the American people and the system of justice. The methods used by Donald Trump to undermine democracy are not unique to him, but are seen in Eastern Europe, Russia, Ukraine, and across the Middle East. The lure of power has led to people who once seemed reasonable and responsible to violate their oath to the Constitution out of political expediency and loyalty to Trump.

The threat to American freedom remains the same, and it is up to each American to take seriously their obligation to safeguard it. Politicians who minimize the threat, repeat lies, or enable the liar are not fit for office.

PART I

THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA

ELECTION DAY 2020 TO JANUARY 5, 2021

THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS WINNING

After the 2020 election, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy informed Donald Trump that he knew it was over and needed time to process the loss. Trump responded by tweeting in all caps, claiming that early returns on Election Night could show him leading initially but would change as absentee and mail-in votes were counted. This happened in every presidential election, with many states counting first, and a larger percentage of Republicans than Democrats voted on Election Day. Trump knew there would be a red mirage where he seemed to be ahead at the outset, but he helped create that mirage. He claimed that the phenomenon was evidence of major fraud and repeated assertions about nefarioussounding ballot dumps.

When McCarthy and McCarthy discussed the possibility of Joe Biden's election being called soon, it seemed likely that the dynamic would shift as people started looking toward the future. McCarthy appeared to be dealing in reality, but Trump and his supporters might not accept the outcome of any legal challenges. One example of this was a tweet by Trump supporter Mark Levin, who warned the Republican state legislatures that they had the final say over the choice of electors, not any board of elections, secretary of state, governor, or even court. Levin's tweet highlighted the importance of the popular vote and the detailed procedures for resolving election disputes, such as recounts, audits, and lawsuits. Once the lawsuit is over and the courts' judgments are final, the election issues are resolved.

Levin suggested that state legislatures should ignore laws governing election disputes and balloting outcomes, and switch the results from Biden to Trump. Conservative law professor John Eastman, who later worked with Donald Trump, disagreed with this idea. As the election was just two days past, Trump and his supporters were inventing ways to ignore the lawful outcome of the election. The author, who served as Chair of the House Republican Conference, asked Adam Kinzinger, a Republican member of Congress, to help him prepare for potential attempts to ignore the lawful outcome.

The conference chair, Kevin McCarthy, and other members of the House Republican Conference discussed the House Republicans' performance in races across the country, with most praising the House Republicans' success on Election Night. However, not a single member of Congress suggested their own election had been rigged or flawed. There were questions about the Trump campaign's future process and possible audits, recounts, or election-related litigation.

After McCarthy's Fox News appearance, colleagues were unhappy that he was echoing Trump's stolen election claims. One member defended the legal process for contesting results, but warned against having people on TV saying the election was stolen without evidence. Ohio congressman Jim Jordan dismissed the discussion about the legal process for challenges and recounts, stating that winning was more important than understanding the rules. Trump's campaign leadership informed him that he had almost certainly lost.

The Trump campaign held a press conference on behalf of the Trump campaign at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a small business located between a crematorium and an adult bookstore in a strip mall outside Philadelphia. The event was met with confusion and misinformation, as Trump seemed to believe it was a mistake. The Trump campaign leadership had essentially the same reaction to the event.

Two days later, Trump announced personnel changes at the Pentagon that were unprecedented for a lame-duck president, adding to growing concerns about what he might be planning. On November 9, Trump fired his secretary of defense, Mark Esper, who had worked together in 2008 when Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson ran for president. Esper believed he had been fired in part because he had made it clear that he would not stand for any use of the military to contest the outcome of an election.

Trump's appointment of Chris Miller to replace Esper was further troubling, as he lacked expertise or relevant background in dealing with the nation's greatest challenge: the threat from great-power competitors China and Russia. Miller had never managed anything close to the scale of DOD and was possibly the least-qualified nominee to become secretary of defense since the position was created in 1947.

Trump also appointed other loyalists to senior civilian positions in the Pentagon, such as Kash Patel, Douglas MacGregor, and Anthony Tata. These appointments were deeply troubling, as Trump had lost the election and intended to begin an orderly and peaceful presidential transition to Joe Biden.

PUT UP OR SHUT UP

The House Republican leaders were scheduled to meet on November 17, 2020, to elect their leadership team for the 117th Congress. Rumors circulated that the Freedom Caucus, a group of pro-Trump Republican members, was considering nominating candidates to run against Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, or the author for one of the top leadership posts. The author declined to join the group due to her conservative voting record and concerns about the group's rule requiring every member to support any position held by 80 percent of the membership.

Following Trump's firing of Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department of Homeland Security, the author defended Trump's false stolen-election claims. Trump claimed that there were massive improprieties and fraud, and that glitches in machines had switched millions of votes from Trump to Biden. However, Krebs confirmed these findings publicly.

On November 19, lawyers representing Trump held a press conference in the Republican National Committee headquarters to lay out false claims of massive voter fraud. Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Joseph DiGenova, Victoria Toensing, and Boris Epshteyn presented evidence of massive fraud, but failed to provide enough evidence to justify throwing out the votes of millions of Americans. Sidney Powell also made an attention-grabbing statement, claiming that America had used a Venezuelan voting machine to count its vote.

The author wondered if Sidney Powell would provide evidence for this claim. The Republican National Committee headquarters occupies prestigious real estate on Capitol Hill, and the event was considered the most dangerous 1 hour 45 minutes of television in American history.

In a press conference, Sidney Powell claimed that America's election system was hacked by Dominion voting machines and Smartmatic technology software, which was created in Venezuela under Hugo Chavez's direction. She claimed that an algorithm switched votes from Trump to Biden and trashed Trump votes. Powell claimed that President Trump won by a landslide and that she would prove it and reclaim the United States for the people who vote for freedom. Jenna Ellis and Rudy Giuliani, the lawyers involved in the investigation, denied any evidence to support her claims.

The press conference was met with skepticism from Trump supporters, who claimed that the lawyers had no evidence to back up their claims. Ultimately, all three lawyers, Giuliani, Powell, and Ellis, would be sanctioned by courts, censured, or have their license to practice law suspended. They would be indicted for their lies about the election.

Millions of Americans believed these lies, and the Trump campaign continued to spread falsehoods. The president and his legal team were making outlandish and false claims that struck at the heart of the electoral process. The president has filed more than thirty separate lawsuits, and if he cannot prove these claims or demonstrate that they would change the election result, he should fulfill his duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States by respecting the sanctity of