President Joe Biden called Liz Cheney on Wednesday after the Wyoming congresswoman, and vocal critic of former President Donald Trump was defeated in her state’s Republican primary.
Biden reached out to Cheney, who earned the ire of the former president when she voted to impeach him over his role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection and her subsequent work on the congressional committee investigating the matter to a person familiar with the conversation.
Following her 37-point loss Tuesday night to Trump-backed conservative lawyer Harriet Hageman, Cheney said she would do “whatever it takes” to block the former president’s path back to the White House.
“I believe that Donald Trump continues to pose a very grave threat — a risk to our republic — and I think defeating him is going to require a broad and united front of Republicans, Democrats, and independents, and that’s what I intend to be a part of,” Cheney told NBC News.
The 56-year-old serves her third term in Wyoming’s sole US House seat and is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. She has said she is considering launching a presidential campaign to challenge Trump’s expected candidacy in the coming months.
Only two of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump following the attack on the Capitol will stand for re-election. Four, including Cheney, have been defeated in Republican primaries, while another four have announced their retirement.
Last month, Cheney attended a ceremony at the White House where Biden awarded former Senator Alan Simpson, another Wyoming Republican, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
