- Dick Cheney appeared in his daughter's new campaign ad released Thursday.
- In the ad, the former vice president called Trump a "coward" and a "threat to our republic."
Former Vice President Dick Cheney in a new campaign ad released Thursday sharply condemned former President Donald Trump and encouraged Wyoming voters to re-elect his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney, in her upcoming primary.
"In our nation's 246-year history, there has never been an individual who was a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump," Dick Cheney, a longtime Republican who served as President George W. Bush's vice president, said in the one-minute ad.
"He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him," Dick Cheney continued, calling Trump a "coward."
The campaign ad comes 11 days before Wyoming's Republican primary election on August 16, when voters will decide whether to keep Liz Cheney in office. Her main competitor, Harriet Hageman, is a local natural resources attorney and former Republican National Committeewoman who's been endorsed by Trump. A Casper-Star Tribune poll conducted in July found Hageman with a commanding 22-point lead over Liz Cheney among likely primary voters in the state.
It's one of the most closely watched races this year as Trump seeks to oust Liz Cheney from Congress over her repeated criticisms of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Liz Cheney serves as vice chair of the committee investigating the riot.
"He lost his election, and he lost big. I know it, he knows it, and deep down, I think most Republicans know it," Liz Cheney's father said in the video, adding that he and his wife, Lynne Cheney, are "so proud" of their daughter.
"Liz is fearless — she never backs down from a fight," he continued. "There is nothing more important she will ever do than lead the effort to make sure Donald Trump is never again near the Oval Office. And she will succeed."
Liz Cheney has represented Wyoming's sole congressional district since 2015, a seat her father previously held for a decade in the 1980s.
Trump has long criticized Dick Cheney, along with President George W. Bush, most notably on foreign policy matters, including the Iraq war. Recently, Trump labeled Dick Cheney and his daughter as "warmongers."
"The Cheneys are diehard globalists and warmongers who have been plunging us into new conflicts for decades, spilling American blood and spending American treasure all over the world," Trump said during a Hageman campaign rally in Wyoming on May 28.