Rep. Liz Cheney, freshly ousted from Republican leadership, said that she regrets having voted for former President Trump when he unsuccessfully ran for reelection in November as the party’s nominee.
Ms. Cheney, Wyoming Republican, made the admission during a recent interview set to air Sunday on ABC in the aftermath of her being removed this week from her post as GOP House conference chairwoman.
In a preview released Friday, Ms. Cheney said that she “was never going to support” the Democratic nominee and voted for Mr. Trump based on “policies he put forth that were good for the country.”
“But I think it is fair to say I regret the vote,” added Ms. Cheney, formerly the third-ranked Republican in the House of Representatives prior to being ousted from that leadership role Wednesday.
Ms. Cheney was stripped of her conference chairwoman status amid facing criticism from within the GOP for pushing back on Mr. Trump’s unfounded assertions about the 2020 election being purportedly “stolen” from him.
President Biden won the White House race, as virtually all major polling had predicted, although Mr. Trump has continued to dispute the legitimacy of the election in the six months since it ended.
Throngs of Mr. Trump’s supporters breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 when Congress met to make his loss official, briefly delaying the certification of electoral college votes affirming his defeat.
Ms. Cheney later placed herself among a small group of Republicans who accordingly voted to impeach Mr. Trump for inciting an insurrection and has remained one of his most vocal critics in the GOP.
Asked in the interview if she would remain a Republican if the party nominates Mr. Trump for president again in 2024, Ms. Cheney responded by saying that she would try to prevent that from happening.
“I will do everything that I can to make sure he is not the nominee and everything necessary to make sure that he never gets anywhere close to the Oval Office again,” said Ms. Cheney.
House Republicans voted Friday morning to make Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York Republican the newest conference chair.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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