Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday said former Rep. Liz Cheney hasn’t endorsed his presidential bid in part because she’s weighing a White House run.
“I think she is still thinking about running herself as a third-party candidate and she wants to keep hope alive there,” Mr. Christie said at a town hall event in New Hampshire. “I think she might have her eye on something else other than vice president.”
Mr. Christie shared his take after he was asked whether he would consider Ms. Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, as a running mate if he won the Republican nomination.
Mr. Christie said he would first expect her to endorse his bid.
Ms. Cheney experienced a high-profile fall from grace in the Republican Party after emerging as one the most vocal critics of former President Donald Trump and his stolen election claims.
Ms. Cheney lost her post in the House GOP leadership after voting to impeach Mr. Trump for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, protest.
She then lost her primary race in a landslide last year in Wyoming to Harriet Hageman, whom Mr. Trump endorsed.
Mr. Christie also has become persona non grata in the Trump world after his about-face. The former governor’s endorsement in the 2016 race helped legitimize Mr. Trump’s unconventional candidacy but now rips his ex-boss at every turn.
Ms. Cheney, in a recent CNN interview, was pressed on why she hasn’t endorsed Mr. Christie, given their shared belief that Mr. Trump has poisoned the party and the national debate.
“I certainly applaud what Governor Christie is doing and his commitment to the truth,” Ms. Cheney said. “I don’t know that it would help anybody in the primary if I endorsed them.”
Ms. Cheney said she hopes it gives voters pause that Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have said they will back Mr. Trump even if he’s convicted of felonies.
Mr. Christie, who has said he wouldn’t vote for Mr. Trump, praised Ms. Cheney at his town hall event, saying she would be a powerful ally.
“I would say she’s a real conservative. She has a great record in Congress, and I find her in my conversations, interaction with her to be a good, honest person,” he said in New Hampshire. “And those are the beginnings of the prerequisites that you would need in a partner.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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