Cheney makes the rounds of Lincoln Day dinners

WORLAND - U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, spent a portion of her last week in Wyoming before heading back to Washington, D.C. attending Lincoln Day dinners around the Big Horn Basin including Lovell on Thursday, Worland Friday and Fremont County on Saturday.

Cheney said as she's talked to groups during this "home work session" or Congressional recess and has been updating people on some key issues including the tax cut bill, de-regulation of "some of the overreach we've seen the last eight years, and also talking to folks about some of the issues that have been in the news recently such as the tariffs."

TARIFFS

Prior to her giving the keynote address at the Washakie County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner, Cheney sat down with the Northern Wyoming Daily News to discuss a number of issues.

Regarding tariffs, she said, "It's absolutely true that the Chinese are cheating, that the Chinese have been for a long time engaged in practices that clearly violate their obligations. But what they are doing goes beyond that, they've been stealing our trade secrets ... they've hacked into the OPM [Office of Personnel Management] computers. They really are moving on all fronts against us. I think it's important for us to recognize that and important for them to know they are going to be held accountable."

Cheney added, "I worry very much about getting into a trade war. It's good that the president narrowed the focus. When he first announced the steel and aluminum tariffs it was very broad. But even with the narrow set that he's announced, I think it could really ended up hurting consumers here in the United States. It could end up hurting our ag industry in terms of inputs they need.

"We've got to make sure we protect ag. I know I've certainly made sure that that message has gotten through, and colleagues of mine from other states where agriculture is so important have also been doing the same thing. Just making sure that we don't get ourselves into a situation if it becomes a trade war, a situation where the repercussions and the response from the Chinese devastate our ag industry."

In addition, she said, with the new tariffs Trump has threatened and the Chinese response, "even though none of those tariffs have gone into place, it's having a huge impact already, in terms of the market, and conditions that ag producers are facing.

"We've got to find a way to avoid a trade war and we've got to find a way to hold the Chinese accountable that doesn't put at risk our most fundamental sources of economic development as well as food for the nation."

MUELLER

INVESTIGATION

Another issue people are asking about is the investigation into possible Russian collusion into the 2016 election by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Cheney said, "My impression is that they are looking at the wrong things. There are some things that are of real concern. It looks like the Obama administration used a political document that the Clinton campaign paid for, and they used that to get a warrant put surveillance on an American citizen. That is fundamentally wrong and disturbing set of circumstances. That's the kind of thing we need to be focused on."

She added, "I think people are right to have real concerns about our law enforcement in terms of the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] and how they were operating and how partisan they seemed to have been and that should never happen."

Among those, according to the Associated Press, Peter Strzok was an FBI counterintelligence agent assigned to Mueller's investigation and was discovered to have exchanged derogatory emails about Trump with FBI lawyer Lisa Page.

RUSSIA

Cheney said, "Instead we have the Mueller investigation looking into, this so-called collusion, which nobody has had any evidence of. I really think we need to spend more time on what really matters, and what really is a danger."

She added that the United States knows that Russia and China are engaged in cyber warfare against the U.S. "We need to be protecting ourselves. I was glad to see the president, just today [Friday] sanctions on a number of Russians in response, partly to their efforts to be involved and engaged in our election process and that's a good thing."

According to the Associated Press, The United States punished dozens of Russian oligarchs and government officials on Friday with sanctions that took direct aim at President Vladimir Putin's inner circle. Seven Russian tycoons, including aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, were targeted, along with 17 officials and a dozen Russian companies, the Treasury Department said. Senior Trump administration officials cast it as part of a concerted, ongoing effort to push back on Putin, emphasizing that since Trump took office last year, the U.S. has punished 189 Russia-related people and entities with sanctions.

Rather than punishing Russia for one specific action, the new sanctions hit back at the Kremlin for its "ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern" of bad behavior, said the officials, who weren't authorized to comment by name and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

ELECTION

With the upcoming elections this year, Cheney said the United States needs to make it clear to other countries that they will face "really, severe consequences" if they do try and interfere in our election process.

On a state and county basis, "We've got make sure our electoral process is protected. I support things like having people show their IDs when they go into vote. Often times you get a lot of pushback ... but to me it's just common sense. You've got to make sure the people who are coming in to cast their votes are actually qualified to be voting."

BORDER PROTECTION

On Thursday, President Donald Trump called for 2,000 to 4,000 National Guard troops to be deployed to help fight drug trafficking and illegal immigration.

Trump's proclamation directing the use of National Guard troops refers to Title 32, a federal law under which Guard members remain under the command and control of their state's governor, according to the AP.

Texas sent troops late last week with Arizona already pledging troops. Other governors have also voiced support to send troops if called, according to the AP, those states include Mississippi, Wisconsin, Missouri, North Dakota and Iowa. Montana Governor Steve Bullock has said he will not. Several other states are reviewing numbers of guard troops available and have not made decisions either way.

Cheney said Friday, "No. 1 I support his decision to do that. I think that's the right decision to do. You've had a lot of inaccurate reporting. I've seen analysis that this is 'unprecedented,' when in fact President Obama did it [1,200 troops in 2010] and President Bush did it [6,400 from 2006-2008]. It's a really important thing to do. You've also seen in response to his announcement that he was going to be sending troops, some of those caravans [from Central America] turn around."

She added, "We've got to protect the border. We're in an uphill battle. We've had eight years where laws weren't enforced ... we're now faced with a lot of people who make a lot of money getting folks in here illegally, who are exploiting weaknesses in our system. They know if they send kids with adults across the border they're going to get more lenient treatment. We've got a lot of work to do and I think that's why the wall is important and why I was really glad to see President Trump make the decision to send the National Guard."

Read more about the Northern Wyoming Daily News' interview with Rep. Cheney is Wednesday's issue with the two main topics - public lands and the Second Amendment.