Donald Trump is pushing back on claims that he stopped eating in the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riot – instead saying he was actually eating “too much”.
Last week, an extract from former Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney’s new book was released, revealing details of the GOP party’s response to the violent insurrection.
In the memoir Oath and Honor, set to be released this Tuesday, Ms Cheney writes about the moment that she learned then-GOP leader Kevin McCarthy had gone to visit Mr Trump at Mar-a-Lago in the aftermath of the Capitol riot.
When she confronted Mr McCarthy over the meeting, Ms Cheney – a staunch and vocal Mr Trump critic – he is said to have told her he had gone to visit him because the former president’s inner circle was growing concerned about his health.
This apparent concern was founded on the fact that Mr Trump wasn’t eating, the book claims.
“Mar-a-Lago? What the hell, Kevin?” Ms Cheney asked him, according to CNN which obtained an advanced copy of the book.
Mr McCarthy replied: “They’re really worried. Trump’s not eating, so they asked me to come see him.”
Ms Cheney said she responded: “What? You went to Mar-a-Lago because Trump’s not eating?”
“Yeah, he’s really depressed,” Mr McCarthy added.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks to the crowd during a caucus event in Iowa— (AP)
Now, Mr Trump has lashed out at the account, taking to Truth Social to post an early-morning rant branding Ms Cheney “crazy”.
He appeared to take the most issue with the claim he was off his food – insisting he actually couldn’t get enough of food at that time.
“Crazy Liz Cheney, who suffers from Trump Derangement Syndrome at a level rarely seen before, writes in her boring new book that Keven McCarthy said he came to Mar-a-Lago after the RIGGED election because, ‘the former president was depressed and not eating.’ That statement is not true,” he said.
“I was not depressed, I WAS ANGRY, and it was not that I was not eating, it was that I was eating too much. But that’s not why Keven McCarthy was there.
“He was at Mar-a-Lago to get my support, and to bring the Republican Party together - Only good intentions. Liz Cheney, on the other hand, went on to lose her seat in Congress by the largest margin for a sitting Congressperson in the history of the U.S. She then worked with others on the J6 Committee to delete and destroy the evidence and findings of the committee.”
Ms Cheney has been one of Mr Trump’s most outspoken critics – losing her position on Capitol Hill because she dared to stand up to his false claims about the 2020 presidential election, where others in their party wouldn’t.
The then-Wyoming representative served as chair of the House Republican Conference, making her the third-highest GOP party member until 2021.
Then, she condemned Mr Trump for his election lies and role in January 6, becoming one of just two Republican lawmakers to sit on the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot.
Ahead of her new book’s release, Ms Cheney issued a dire warning about America’s future if the former president is successful in taking back the White House in 2024.
“He’s told us what he will do. People who say, ‘well, if he’s elected, it’s not that dangerous because we have all of these checks and balances’, don’t fully understand the extent to which the Republicans in Congress today have been co-opted. One of the things that we see happening today is a sort of a sleepwalking into dictatorship in the United States,” she told CBS Sunday Morning this weekend.
She added: “What I believe is the cause of our time is that we not become numb that we understand the warning signs that we understand the danger, and that we ignore partisan politics to stop him.”
