Trump calls GOP congresswoman Liz Cheney ‘weak’ and advocates for US committing war crimes in Iraq

The president has continued his escalation of the civil war within the GOP during a rally of his supporters in DC on Wednesday

Donald Trump lambasted GOP congresswoman Liz Cheney and complained that the US did not commit enough war crimes in Iraq during a bizarre rant at a wild rally of his supporters on Wednesday.

The president said that his followers needed to get rid of "weak" members of Congress.

"The ones that aren't any good. The Liz Cheneys of the world. You know, she never wants a soldier brought home," Mr Trump said. "I brought a lot of our soldiers home."

Mr Trump appeared to be attacking Rep Cheney after she criticised his insistence that Congress overturn the results of the 2020 election based on false claims of massive voter fraud.

“Congress has no authority to overturn elections by objecting to electors. Doing so steals power from the states & violates the Constitution,” Rep Cheney tweeted.

She also called Mr Trump's call to the Georgia Secretary of State “deeply troubling”. During the call, the president pressured election officials to "find" more than 11,000 votes and overturn the state's election results.

The president went on to criticise US military leadership for not stealing oil from Iraq during the US military occupation, which would have been a war crime. 

Mr Trump appeared to be making the jab in reference to Ms Cheney's father, former vice president Dick Cheney, who is often credited as the architect of the Iraq War.

Mr Trump said that it was "stupid" that the US did not pillage Iraq during its occupation and steal the country's oil.

Last month Mr Trump pardoned four Blackwater mercenaries who massacred Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007.

Mr Trump's statements about Rep Cheney and other congressional Republicans is an escalation in the GOP civil war between Trump loyalists and traditional conservatives.

Earlier in the day, the president's son, Donald Trump Jr, threatened to support primary challenges against any Republicans who have not sufficiently supported his father's false claims of election fraud.

At the end of his speech, the president told his followers to march on the Capitol. They did, and have breached the Capitol building after clashing with police.