White House aides tried to limit access to Trump knowing he was 'too dangerous to be left alone' after his election loss: Cheney

Rep. Liz Cheney, Vice Chairwoman of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol, delivers opening remarks during a hearing on the January 6th investigation on Capitol Hill on June 9, 2022 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee/Getty Images

• Cheney said that the Jan. 6 investigation found Trump's inner circle thought he was 'too dangerous to be left alone'
• "He was willing to entertain and use conspiracy theories to achieve his ends," she said. 
• The comments came during the first public hearing of the January 6 committee.

Rep. Liz Cheney on Thursday evening said former White House staff knew President Donald Trump couldn't be "left alone" as he sought to overturn the 2020 election results. 

"The White House staff knew that President Trump was willing to entertain and use conspiracy theories to achieve his ends," the Wyoming Republican said during opening remarks at the first public hearing investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. "They knew that the president needed to be cut off from all of those who had encouraged him.  They knew that President Donald Trump was too dangerous to be left alone."

Cheney was previewing the hearings set to take place over the coming weeks as the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol makes its findings public. She is vice-chair of the committee and one of two Republicans House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed to serve on the panel after Republican leaders said they wouldn't cooperate with the investigation, which they viewed as politically motivated.

In contrast to most in her party, Cheney, who is former Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter, has been aligned with Democrats in seeking to investigate the actions that led up to the January 6 attack on the Capitol that disrupted federal lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden's electoral victory. 

During her opening remarks, Cheney called Trump's state a time of "maximum danger" for the US, and heaped blame on some of the White House staff surrounding the president. Some "took responsible steps" on January 6, others "egged the president on," and others who could have acted refused to do so, she said. 

The panel will reveal testimony from more than a half dozen former Trump administration officials who were in the the White House on January 6, she said.  

Cheney's comments came during the first of six public hearings that the panel plans to hold in June to reveal its findings after a year-long investigation. The committee has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses and gathered thousands of documents, but Thursday is the first time that the details of their findings are being broadcast to the public.