Former President Donald Trump is set to endorse Wyoming attorney Harriet Hageman in her expected primary challenge against Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, according to a new report.
Trump has long opposed Cheney, one of a handful of Republicans to vote twice to impeach Trump, and Politico reports that “three people with knowledge of [Trump’s] plans” say he’ll back Hageman.
“Trump’s looming involvement in the primary will test his political power in the GOP like never before, as he seeks to punish the most high-profile House Republican to vote for his impeachment in January. His allies and team not only encouraged Hageman to run against Cheney — they now are under pressure to clear the crowded primary field of other candidates who could split anti-Cheney sentiment, which would give the incumbent the chance to win her primary with only a plurality,” reports Politico.
The left-leaning political website also reported that as a “final step before officially announcing her campaign later this week, Hageman resigned Tuesday as one of Wyoming’s members of the Republican National Committee.”
“While I have thoroughly enjoyed my work as National Committeewoman, I will not be able to continue in that role at this time and am hereby submitting my resignation to be effective immediately. I have every intention of staying active in the Republican Party and in Republican politics, but will be doing so through different means,” Hageman wrote in her resignation letter.
Hageman also noted that the committee had punished Cheney. “By censuring Rep. Liz Cheney we sent the strong message that we expect our elected officials to respect the views and values of the people who elected them. Accountability is key and I am proud of our party for demanding it,” she wrote.
Before she was booted from her chairman post in the House Republican Conference, Cheney expressed support for impeaching Trump over the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” Cheney said at the time. “Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
Before the riot at the Capitol, Trump told a crowd of thousands of supporters gathered on the National Mall: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them, because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”
“All members, especially House and Senate leaders, should support this effort and there should be no delay in passing this bill to find the facts and the truth about what happened on January 6th and the events leading up to it,” Cheney said in a statement. “In the aftermath of national crises, such as Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy assassination, or September 11th, our nation has established commissions so the American people know the truth and we can prevent these events from happening again. The same thing is needed for January 6th and this commission is an important step forward to answering those fundamental questions.”