Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Tuesday said she will avoid taking any steps that could help former President Donald Trump in his quest to return to the White House, adding that he should face consequences for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Cheney, a fierce Trump critic who has been floated as a likely 2024 presidential hopeful after she failed to win reelection in Wyoming last November, was interviewed on the stage of the Aspen Ideas Festival by NBC News’ Lester Holt. Asked if she would pursue a presidential bid as a third-party candidate, Cheney replied: ”I’m not going to do anything that helps Donald Trump.”
Cheney added that she will be making a decision on her future plans “later on this year,” but said ultimately her biggest concern is blocking Trump.
“The way I’m thinking about where we are and what has to be done is much less about what should I do in terms of am I going to be a candidate or not and much more about stopping Donald Trump whatever that takes,” Cheney told Holt. “But also helping elect other good candidates down-ballot.”
Cheney also weighed in on Trump’s historic federal indictment over his alleged mishandling of top-secret files, referencing the tape of Trump describing a document compiled by Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he was president, on potential attacks on Iran, as yet another example of why Trump shouldn’t serve again in the White House.
“There’s simply no question that he’s unfit to be the president of the United States,” she said.
Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to all 37 charges, said his words on the recording aired by CNN amounted to “bravado” and claimed he did not show off anything classified to the people working on the memoir of his former chief of staff Mark Meadows who were part of the 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey.
“I was talking and just holding up papers and talking about them, but I had no documents,” Trump told ABC News and Semafor. “I didn’t have any documents.”
Cheney, who was vice chair of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, added that she would like to see him face consequences for his actions around the Capitol riot.
“I think it’s fundamentally important that not just the foot soldiers are held to account for what happened, but that accountability goes all the way up to the top,” Cheney said. “The single most important issue is that Donald Trump never be anywhere near the Oval Office again.”
The Jan. 6 panel referred four criminal charges against the former president to the Justice Department last year: obstructing an official proceeding, conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to make false statements, and inciting an insurrection against the United States.
“Given what we know he did, given the extent to which we know he attempted to overturn the election, given his direct involvement in the fake electors scheme, given the extent to which he aided and abetted, at a minimum, those who were involved in the insurrection, failing to indict, failing to make sure he’s held accountable, carries with it real danger for the republic,” Cheney said.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who has been tasked with overseeing the DOJ investigation into the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, is reportedly nearing the end of his work.
His team reportedly interviewed Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former personal lawyer who pushed the former president to challenge election results in battleground states and promoted baseless claims of widespread election fraud.