Rep. Cheney: I'll Do 'Whatever it Takes' to Stop Trump (Newsmax)
By Nicole Wells | Monday, 26 September 2022 01:28 PM EDT
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., pledged to do "whatever it takes" to ensure that former President Donald Trump is not the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, according to The Texas Tribune.
During a festival Saturday hosted by the news outlet, Cheney was asked by Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith if she would run for president in a bid to block Trump.
"I certainly will do whatever it takes to make sure Donald Trump isn't anywhere close to the Oval Office," she reportedly said.
Though she recently lost her Republican primary, Cheney will continue to serve as vice chair of the House Jan. 6 Committee until she leaves office in January. She told the Tribune that she continues to see herself as a Republican, in the spirit of Ronald Reagan and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
If Trump receives the party's nomination in 2024, however, Cheney said she would change her party affiliation.
"I'm going to make sure Donald Trump … is not the nominee," she said. "And if he is the nominee, I won't be a Republican."
While Cheney maintained that she is a committed conservative on policy issues, she cautioned that a Republican majority in the House would give excessive power to Trump-allied members, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Jim Jordan.
Cheney slammed Trump for not doing more to quell the protesters who breached the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, and said any decision on criminal prosecution of the former president would be unanimous for the committee's seven Democrats and two Republicans.
Cheney also had words for others in her party, such as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who have not questioned the 2020 election results but have supported other Republicans who have.
"He's demonstrated that he's somebody who has not bought into the toxin of Donald Trump — but he campaigned recently for Kari Lake, who's an election denier, who is dangerous," Cheney said. "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that Kari Lake is not elected."
Lake responded on Fox News on Sunday, saying that Cheney "probably should change her voter registration," before calling the congresswoman's remarks a "gift."
"That might be the biggest, best gift I've ever received," Lake said. "The people of Wyoming can't stand her. I'm pretty much sure that the people of Arizona don't like Liz Cheney."
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a frequent critic of Cheney, questioned her vow to defeat Lake after her own primary loss.
"Liz Cheney gets crushed in her 'home' Wyoming by 40+ points … But now we are supposed to believe she has the juice to take on @KariLake," Gaetz tweeted.