Dick Cheney warned his daughter Rep. Liz Cheney on January 6 that she might not be safe after seeing Trump attack her before the Capitol riot, report says
- Dick Cheney called his daughter Liz to warn her after Trump singled her out on January 6.
- The controversial former vice president is said to consider Trump an "abysmal" president.
- Rep. Liz Cheney was ousted from her GOP leadership position over her opposition to Trump.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney called his daughter Rep. Liz Cheney on January 6 to warn her of the danger she faced as a recent target of President Donald Trump, The New York Times reported.
Liz Cheney has emerged as one of the most adamant critics of Trump in the GOP. In May, she lost her place in the party's congressional leadership over her opposition to the former president in the wake of the Capitol riot.
Her father and political mentor, Dick Cheney, is no stranger to political controversy and is regarded as a master of the political dark arts. As the vice president to George W. Bush, he was the architect of the US invasion of Iraq.
The new report said that on January 6, Dick Cheney's key concern was for his daughter's safety, after he watched a speech in which Trump, addressing supporters, vowed to get rid of "the Liz Cheneys of the world."
When she received the call from her father, Liz Cheney was preparing to deliver a speech that acknowledged Joe Biden's victory as president at the congressional certification procedure on the House floor.
Liz Cheney told her father that she would deliver the speech despite being warned that it could inflame hard-line Trump supporters, The New York Times reported.
Moments after the call, pro-Trump rioters breached the Capitol, and Liz Cheney, along with other lawmakers, was ushered to a secure part of the complex by security officials.
In a statement after the riot, Cheney said she backed the second impeachment of Trump, and laid the blame for the unrest with the president.
"There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution," she wrote.
The New York Times report also detailed Dick Cheney's opposition to Trump.
He believed Trump was an "abysmal" president, and he was critical of Trump's foreign-policy decisions and handling of the COVID-19 crisis, the report said.
Trump's political brand was partly formed in opposition to figures such as Dick Cheney. Trump criticized the "forever wars" he said Cheney and his allies had visited on the US, and instead championed "America First" nationalism.