Former US Vice President Dick Cheney, a lifelong Republican, says he will vote for Kamala Harris

This photo taken on Aug. 16, 2022, shows former US Vice President Dick Cheney with his daughter, then Rep. Liz Cheney, during the Republican primary election in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. (The Washington Post via AP/File)
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  • Cheney, who was VP from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush, says Republican candidate and former president Donald Trump 鈥渃an never be trusted with power again鈥�
  • Several other top Republicans have come out in support of Harris while some, including Sen. Mitt Romney and former Vice President Mike Pence, say they won鈥檛 be voting for Trump

CHEYENNE, Wyoming: Former Vice President Dick Cheney, a lifelong Republican, will vote for Kamala Harris for president, he announced Friday.
Liz Cheney, who herself endorsed Harris on Wednesday, first announced her father鈥檚 endorsement when asked by Mark Leibovich of The Atlantic magazine during an onstage interview at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.
鈥淲ow,鈥� Leibovich replied as the audience cheered.
Like his daughter, Dick Cheney has been an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump, notably during Liz Cheney鈥檚 ill-fated reelection campaign in 2022.
Dick Cheney put out a statement Friday confirming his endorsement, which read almost entirely as opposition to Trump rather than support of Harris.
鈥淗e can never be trusted with power again,鈥� the statement said. 鈥淎s citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.鈥�
Trump responded on his Truth Social platform by calling the former vice president 鈥渁n irrelevant RINO, along with his daughter.鈥� The acronym stands for 鈥淩epublican in name only.鈥�
Asked for comment, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said, 鈥淲ho is Liz Cheney?鈥�
The campaign confirmed Cheung was being sarcastic by also pointing to a comment Liz Cheney posted online four years ago in which she called Harris a 鈥渞adical liberal.鈥�
Dick Cheney, 83, has made few if any public appearances over the past year or more. He has dealt with heart issues since his 40s and underwent a heart transplant in 2012.
Dick Cheney鈥檚 statement Friday was similar to a 2022 campaign ad for Liz Cheney as she sought a fourth term as Wyoming鈥檚 lone congressperson. In it, he called Trump a 鈥渃oward鈥� for trying to 鈥渟teal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him.鈥�
The ad did little good for his daughter in a deep-red state that once held the Cheney family dear but is now thoroughly in Trump鈥檚 corner. By a more than 2-to-1 margin, Liz Cheney lost her Republican primary to Trump-endorsed attorney Harriet Hageman.
Dick Cheney has been friends with Democrats over the years but never supported one for president.
Both Cheneys backed Trump in 2016, but after Liz Cheney criticized Trump foreign policy decisions and Trump criticized the 鈥渆ndless wars鈥� in Afghanistan and Iraq launched when Dick Cheney was vice president, their support waned.
If either Cheney supported Trump in 2020, they were mum about it. Meanwhile, their home state of Wyoming that year delivered Trump his widest margin of victory.
By 2021, Liz Cheney鈥檚 vote to impeach Trump and her investigation into him for the 2021 US Capitol riot made them irredeemable to Trump 鈥� and soon most of the GOP.
There were exceptions. One was Cheney ally Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, a Republican Trump critic who earlier this year endorsed Biden and spoke in support of Harris at the Democratic National Convention in August.
Several other top Republicans have come out in support of Harris while some, including Sen. Mitt Romney and former Vice President Mike Pence, say they won鈥檛 be voting for Trump.
Of them only Romney, who is not seeking reelection, is still in office.