'What it looks like when the rule of law unravels:' Liz Cheney fired back at Newt Gingrich for suggesting jailing members of the Jan 6 panel

• Newt Gingrich in an interview warned that Jan 6 committee members could be jailed.
• Republican committee member Liz Cheney hit back in a tweet.

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming hit back at veteran GOP operator Newt Gingrich after he suggested that she and other members of the House commission investigating the Jan 6 riot could be arrested and jailed.

Gingrich, a Donald Trump ally who was House speaker during the Clinton administration, in an interview with Fox News on Sunday said that if Republicans win back control of Congress in the mid-terms, members of the commission could face criminal penalties.

"I think when you have a Republican Congress, this is all going to come crashing down," Gingrich told the host, Maria Bartiromo.

"And the wolves are going to find out that they're now sheep and they're the ones who are in fact, I think, face a real risk of jail for the kinds of laws they're breaking."

Gingrich appeared to suggest that the investigations of those involved in the riot were illegal.

—Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) January 23, 2022

In a tweet, Cheney hit back at the claim.

"A former Speaker of the House is threatening jail time for members of Congress who are investigating the violent January 6 attack on our Capitol and our Constitution. This is what it looks like when the rule of law unravels," it said.

In an op-ed in Newsweek last week, Gingrich accused the Democratic-majority panel of seeking to persecute ordinary conservatives.

"House Republicans owe it to the Constitution and the American people to defeat the wolves and return them to sheep status," he said, outlining a series of measures he said Republicans should be taking to investigate and potentially punish those involved in the commission.

Trump allies are intensifying their campaign to mitigate the seriousness of the riot, even as the committee brings new details to light. Some Trump allies have pushed the baseless conspiracy theory that the FBI instigated the violence in a plot to ensnare Trump supporters.

Cheney, and the other Republican on the commission, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, have been ostracized from the party and accused of treachery by Trump and others.

Kinzinger in a tweet responded to Gingrich's claim with a mocking image.

—Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) January 23, 2022