(The Hill) — Former President Trump responded to former Vice President Dick Cheney’s decision to back his Democratic rival in November late Friday, calling the former GOP vice president an “irrelevant RINO” — or “Republican in name only.”
“Dick Cheney is an irrelevant RINO, along with his daughter, who lost by the largest margin in the History of Congressional Races!” the former president wrote in a post on Truth Social, referring to former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who lost her 2022 midterm election to a Trump-backed challenger.
The criticism comes after Cheney, who under former President George W. Bush, said Friday in a statement that he will support Vice President Harris in the fall.
“As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution,” Cheney said. “That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”
The GOP presidential nominee noted in his Friday post that Cheney was unable to get his former adviser, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, pardoned.
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Libby was convicted in 2007 in an investigation centered on the leak of a CIA officer’s identity and later sentenced to 30 months in prison. Trump issued a pardon to the former Bush official in 2018.
Trump wrote, “They couldn’t get Scooter Libby, who did so much for them (but was so unfairly treated!), PARDONED. I did it!”
The former president also argued that Cheney is the “King of Endless, Nonsensical Wars, wasting Lives and Trillions of Dollars, just like Comrade Kamala Harris.”
“I am the Peace President, and only I will stop World War III!” he claimed.
Liz Cheney has emerged as one of Trump’s most vocal critics following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The younger Cheney, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach the former president for his efforts to remain in power following the 2020 election, also served on the House select committee investigation the Jan. 6 riots.
Trump blasted Cheney in his Friday evening rant, saying she served on the committee of “Political Losers” and her actions were “unthinkable.”
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“She and her Unselects deleted and destroyed all evidence and information – IT’S GONE. Must of it proved that [former Speaker] Nancy Pelosi was responsible for J6 – DIDN’T PROVIDE SECURITY,” he wrote.
The Wyoming Republican announced earlier this week her decision to back Harris, saying she thought a lot about the decision and could not support Trump.
The former president wrote in his post that those who sat on the Jan. 6 select committee “should be prosecuted for what they did.”
But, he added “Comrade Kamala is even worse!”
