There's a warning and a portrait of Republican cowardice from a former Congresswoman who says she witnessed it right up close. Cnn has new and exclusive details from Liz Cheney's new book, is titled Oath and Honor, and it's due out next week. But lo and behold, CNN got a hold of a copy. Cheney's chronicles various episodes showing how Republicans bent every which way to try to appease the former President Donald Trump. Here to talk about it, former congressman and January sixth Select Committee member, Adam Kinsinger, and the reporter who broke this CNN exclusive special correspondent, Jamie Gangel. I'm so glad that you're here. I have to tell you, I want to take the book out of your hands and like, Oh, thank you. I want to read it cover to cover. I'll hold it right here for a second. But she's not holding back in this book at all. Tell me about it.

Absolutely, Nate. So Liz Cheney is painting a scathing portrait of her Republican colleagues, of the party for what she calls, she calls them enablers, collaborators. She says they appeased him and she talks about their cowardice. I just want to read you a couple of quotes from the book. She says, quote, Donald Trump cannot succeed alone, and they are enabling him. I think what's important is she has the receipts. She names names. The book is based on text messages, emails, personal conversations, meetings, and it's really filled with revelations about what was going on behind the scenes. She talks about her relationship, her unlikely alliance with Nancy Pelosi. But here is an extraordinary scene from the book. It is January sixth. It's the GOP Cloke Room, and Republican congressman, Mark Green of Tennessee, is signing his name to object to electoral vote. They all know, as she writes in the book, that it's a farce. And she overhears him say the following, quote, As he moved down the line signing his name to the pieces of paper, Green said sheepishly to no one in particular, The things we do for Orange Jesus.

Well, that's a new nickname, the Orange Jesus. Obviously, he's talking about.

Donald Trump. He's talking about Donald Trump. So in public, they're supporting him. In private, you're hearing what they.

Really say. In a way, we suspected a new part of that from the reporting over the years, people behind the scenes would talk about something and then in front of the cameras. But there's also this moment that I think everyone wondered about, and that was one former speaker, Kevin McCarthy, who was hoping to become the speaker of the House, obviously, was a short-lived venture, but about his trip to Mar-a-Lago. This book talks about Liz Cheney's question to him as to why he was in this picture, why he went down there. Here's the picture we're talking about. What did she say?

First of all, when she saw that picture, she thought it was a fake. She couldn't believe it. This is just three weeks after January sixth, and he secretly goes down to Mar-Lago. And when he comes back, she confronts him. And this is the conversation that they have. Cheney says, sorry, let me get it here, Mar-Lago, What the hell, Kevin? Kevin McCarthy says, They're really worried. Trump's not eating. So they asked me to come see him. Cheney, What? You went to Mar-Lago because Trump's not eating? He's healthy.

Yeah.

He's really depressed.

Seriously, Jamie. I mean, you really can't script this. If this had been an actual show, it would have jumped the shark in a say a long time ago. Let me bring in here for a second, to go and think about these moments before we bring in the former congressman, Kinzinger, who lived this and saw this. Is that seriously what his motivation was for going down to Mar-a-Lago?

No, he was going because in the three weeks between January sixth, when for 15 minutes the Republicans all said the right thing. They condemned the January sixth attack. They said Trump was responsible. All of a sudden, Kevin McCarthy can't raise money anymore. Kevin McCarthy wants to be Speaker of the House. I'm sure Congressman Kinsinger can speak to this much better than I do. But he goes running back to Trump because he thinks he needs Trump's help to get money and to become Speaker.

Congressman Kinsinger, let me bring you in here because you have to wonder, knowing that we've all seen how this all played out as in being the Speaker of the House, was that photograph in those moments actually worth it? But you've lived this both on January sixth and then, of course, your work on the committee. When you're hearing all of this from this soon-to-be-release book by your fellow Congresswoman and member of that same committee, what is your reaction?

I mean, it's zero surprise on any of this. You asked me, was it worth it? Look, if you have no... How do I say this? Somewhat professionally. If you have no moral center and your whole goal is just to attain some a position, which is Kevin McCarthy, then yeah, it was worth it because he became Speaker, and he will forever be known as Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Now, was it worth it for the country? Was it worth it for the cost to your own personal soul? I guess. I don't think so, because look, it's funny because as Jamie is talking about him saying, Well, he's not eating. First off, the idea of Kevin going down there and feeding Donald Trump and his mat, it just blows me away. It's got to be a.

Cartoon for it. I'm too visual for that. Please, I'm too visual for that image right now. I can't. Go ahead.

But secondly, so I know Kevin well, and I can hear him saying it because what Kevin does, every time he talks to you, he takes your side. So when Liz calls him, he thinks it's going to be good to say, he's depressed and not eating to Liz, like Liz is going to care. And then to me, it was basically, Well, I was down there fundraising, and they invited me over. You're not going to say no to the former President. And I'm sure when some of the Freedom Club members called him, he's like, Yeah, because I'm all in on Donald Trump. There's no light core to him. The reality is, I think if the Speaker's race had been four years away, you would have seen Kevin McCarthy do something different because he could have thought about it and said, Over four years, I may be able to take on this Trump base and get the party back to normal instead. And he's right. He could not have done that in two years, so he had to make a decision for the country or for the title of speaker. And I got to tell you, history will judge that Kevin McCarthy, I've said this since the day it happened, Kevin McCarthy is the guy, the guy that resurrected Donald Trump.

Wow. I mean, you and Liz Cheney, you both want to turn the party toward a different future, likely for that very reason. And the resurrection, so to speak, of what was the name of one of the members talking in the book? The Orange Jesus, I think it was. We are seeing some high donors trying to do the same thing with the Coke Brothers. Obviously, now they're backing Nikki Haley, not Trump. By the way, not to Santis either, which I'm going to talk about more in my next segment. But do you think this influx of cash to different candidates will make a difference and maybe suppress that so-called resurrection?

Well, it always makes a difference because, again, anything is just momentum. So giving people permission right now, and this is what's weird when you have the almost cult structure that exists in the GOP around Donald Trump, because, listen, Liz's stories about hearing people say something different. I had people come up to me on the floor all the time and tell me, Thank you for doing the January sixth Committee stuff, and then saying, I can't do it because of my district. I'm like, Have you seen my district? So all of these things give people a permission structure to walk away. And we're at that point. Trump's got to lose a lot to lose the primary, let's be clear. So I think probably smart money is on Donald Trump gets it. But you look at Nikki Haley, you look at Chris Christy surging in New Hampshire. I think there is a possibility, especially if Donald Trump ends up going to trial in the spring, that it's somebody else. But again, if I was in Vegas playing Vegas odds, I probably wouldn't put any money on that.

Well, I mean, Jamie, the Coke team has what? $70 million War Chess? I don't know about smart money, but a lot of money comes into this. But I want to ask you about the name and the title of the book. It's called Oath and Honor. And I am going to steal this from you. I'm not giving it back. Sorry about that. It's a memoir and a warning. Now don't spoil it for me or the audience, but what's the nature of the warning?

I think this is taking... Liz Cheney has said that Donald Trump is the most dangerous person to have ever been in the Oval Office, and she concludes the book, and I'm not giving it away, there's more, but with really this chilling warning, and that is that if he's allowed to be President again, the checks and balances of our country will not hold this time, that there will not be any guardrails. It's really a call to action not just Republicans, Democrats, independents, and Republicans to come together and make sure he's never President again.

I'm going to flip through the pages and figure out Adam Kinsinger, Jamie Gengal to see if there's an announcement from the former Congresswoman Liz Cheney. I'm not saying it's in there, but I'm curious to see if maybe she has somebody else in mind that she'd like to run and if it has her own last name. Thank you both of you for joining me tonight.