Former US Vice-President and lifelong Republican Dick Cheney has confirmed he will vote for the Democrats’ Kamala Harris in November’s presidential election.
Mr Cheney, seen as an influential figure during the presidency of George W Bush, issued a statement saying there had “never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump”, the current Republican candidate.
His daughter, former Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney, had told an audience in Texas earlier that her father planned to back the Democratic nominee.
“He [Trump] tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him,” said Mr Cheney. “He can never be trusted with power again.”
“As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our constitution,” he added. “That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice-President Kamala Harris.”
Mr Cheney’s remarks were welcomed by the Harris camp.
“The vice-president is proud to have the support of Vice-President Cheney, and deeply respects his courage to put country over party,” said campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon.
Mr Cheney joins a growing list of Republicans who have expressed concern about the candidacy of Donald Trump.
His daughter, Liz Cheney, has already given her backing to Vice-President Harris.
She served on the House select committee investigating the 6 January Capitol riots, and was one of 10 Republicans to vote to impeach former President Trump after the incident.
Ms Cheney lost her seat in Congress in 2022 to a Trump-backed candidate.
Taking to social media following Mr Cheney’s statement, Trump called the former vice-president an “irrelevant RINO” – an acronym which stands for “Republican in name only”.
He also described Mr Cheney as the “King of Endless, Nonsensical Wars” – alluding to his role in the Iraq War.
By BBC News
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