Cheney fires back at Flynn over coup remark

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) fired back at Michael Flynn on Monday for comments he made during a conference in Texas that appeared to suggest a Myanmar-like coup should take place in the U.S.

“No American should advocate or support the violent overthrow of the United States,” Cheney wrote in a tweet referring to Flynn, who served as national security adviser in the Trump administration.

No American should advocate or support the violent overthrow of the United States. https://t.co/dpa20pLG4n

— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 31, 2021

Flynn, while speaking at a conference in Dallas over the weekend, which was attended by a number of supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory, was asked why a coup like the one that occurred in Myanmar could not happen in the U.S.

“I want to know why what happened in Myanmar can’t happen here?” an audience member asked Flynn at the conference, dubbed “For God & Country Patriot Roundup,” which was captured in a video shared online.

The audience reacted to the question with cheers.

Once the crowd quieted, Flynn responded, “No reason. I mean, it should happen here.”

Here is the video of former national security advisor Michael Flynn saying that he thinks a coup like the coup in Myanmar should happen in the US. pic.twitter.com/7mGYjfXg18

— Mamie (@MC_Hyperbole) May 30, 2021

Myanmar’s military seized power and overtook the country’s democratically-elected government in February. Since the coup, Myanmar security forces have killed hundreds of individuals, and thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators have been detained, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Flynn served as former President Trump’s first national security adviser, before he was fired in 2017.

Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his communications with Russia. In January 2020, he asked a court to let him withdraw his guilty plea, just two weeks before he was set to be sentenced.

Trump ultimately issued Flynn a full pardon in November 2020.

One month later, Flynn said Trump could deploy the military to “rerun” the 2020 election. Additionally, at the event in Texas over the weekend, he reportedly falsely claimed that  Trump won both the popular and Electoral College vote, according to CNN.

Cheney’s rebuke of Flynn’s comments comes as the former House Republican Conference chair, who was ousted from the post earlier this month for repeatedly challenging Trump’s false claims of election fraud, works to form her own faction in the Republican Party — one that does not involve the former president.

Cheney was later replaced by New York Rep. Elise Stefanik (R).

Minutes after her removal from GOP leadership, Cheney said she would work to keep Trump out of the White House.

“I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office,” she said.