Trump has been silent about Dick Cheney’s death. But on the campaign trail, he railed against him
WASHINGTON AP Former Vice President Dick Cheney may have been a legendary figure within the Republican Party but for President Donald Trump he was part of a long list of people he viewed as political opponents While White House flags were lowered to half-staff in remembrance of Cheney on Tuesday there was no fanfare and Trump made no comment about Cheney s death on social media His press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not mention his passing in a press briefing until she was requested by a reporter and then made only perfunctory comments I know the president is aware of the former vice president s passing And as you saw flags have been lowered to half-staff in accordance with statutory law Leavitt explained Trump was not so quiet about Cheney on the campaign trail last year speaking regularly about him and his daughter Liz Cheney a former member of Congress who bucked most of of her party to become a leading critic and examiner of Trump s desperate attempts to retain power after he failed to win reelection in Dick Cheney backed his daughter and in a twist the Democrats of his era could never have imagined ultimately announced he would vote for Trump s Democratic opponent Kamala Harris While campaigning in Traverse City Michigan Trump advised Arab and Muslim voters that Dick Cheney s help for Harris should give them pause saying he killed more Arabs than any human being on Earth He pushed Bush and they went into the Middle East Trump narrated conservative media personality Tucker Carlson that he was never a fan of Cheney but disclosed he thought the former vice president would back him anyway I was a little surprised because I really thought that Dick Cheney would go with me over his daughter and he didn t Trump mentioned at a Oct campaign event with Carlson In his first term Trump had granted Cheney s former chief of staff Scooter Libby a pardon for his conviction of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice When I became president I veritably called Dick Cheney I noted Let me ask you about Scooter Libby Trump informed Carlson saying he thought former President George W Bush didn t have the courage to pardon Libby I published him Cheney called me he mentioned it s one of the nicest things I ve ever seen done in politics Trump disclosed Trump s citizens antipathy to the former vice president was sparked by excoriating criticism from Liz Cheney She was vice chair of the Democratic-led special House committee that spent months exploring the Jan riot at the Capitol and concluded that it was an attempted coup and a direct end of the defeated president s effort to overturn the poll President Trump summoned a violent mob Liz Cheney who at the time represented Wyoming in the House stated during one of the committee s society hearings When a president fails to take the procedures necessary to preserve our union or worse causes a constitutional dilemma we re in a moment of maximum danger for our republic The elder Cheney later cut a television campaign ad for his daughter as she sought reelection to the House That bid failed largely due to her anti-Trump stance A conservative Dick Cheney sounded an alarm about returning Trump to high office In our nation s -year history there has never been an individual who was a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump Cheney disclosed in the television ad He tried to steal the last balloting using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him He is a coward Associated Press writer Calvin Woodward contributed to this record Source
