Former U.S. congresswoman Liz Cheney used her trip to the key swing state of North Carolina to announce she is voting for Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Donald Trump cannot be trusted with the power of the presidency,” Cheney said during a lecture at Duke University on Wednesday titled “Defending Democracy.”
“I don’t think we can afford to write down candidates’ names, especially in key states,” she said.
“As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I’ve thought about this deeply. And because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only will I not vote for Donald Trump, I will vote for Kamala Harris.”
Cheney is a staunch conservative and previously served as a member of the Republican Party leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was forced out of her leadership position when she rejected Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
She was vice chair of the House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6 insurrection and former President Donald Trump’s role in it. She was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection. Cheney paid a price for opposing Trump. She lost the 2022 Wyoming primary to a Trump-backed challenger.
Cheney, whose father Dick Cheney served as vice president under Republican President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009, vowed to “do whatever it takes” to make sure Trump loses the election.
Harris’ campaign has emphasized the support she has received from Republicans. The campaign has launched state Republican groups for Harris. Republican speakers have been featured at the Democratic National Convention.
The campaign was seeking Cheney’s supportAccording to the New York Times.
Cheney said Wednesday she wants people to pledge to remember that Trump watched the Capitol riot on television and rejected requests to call off the mob.
“He watched people attack our Capitol in his name,” she said. “He sat there while members of his family, members of his staff, begged him to tell the mob to stop. They begged him. He wouldn’t do that,” she said. Instead, Trump “added fuel to the fire,” she said, tweeting that Vice President Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what had to be done.
Trump pressured Pence to change his mind after his election defeat.
Cheney said it was essential to defeat election deniers.
“It’s not just Donald Trump,” she said. “Here in North Carolina, that means beating the Republican candidate for governor. Beating the Republican candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction.”
Trump endorsed Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson for governor.
Following the January 6 riots, Republican nominee for public education director Michele Morrow recorded a video calling on Trump to ““Let’s put the Constitution aside” Morrow was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, CNN reported, but found no evidence she entered the building.
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