Trump Jr. says he will campaign against Liz Cheney in Wyoming in revenge for her attacks on his father after Trump loyalists fail to get her booted from GOP leadership
Donald Trump Jr. will go to Wyoming to campaign against Republican Rep. Liz Cheney after she voted to impeach his father.
'I hear it's lovely during primary season,' he told Politico's Playbook.
Cheney has been under fire from conservatives since she voted to impeach Donald Trump even as establishment Republicans - such as Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell - have defended her for voting her conscious.
She survived a challenge from conservative House members to stay in the GOP leadership in Congress but she's been censured by the Wyoming Republican Party and already has garnered one primary challenger with more mulling a run.
The primary is a ways off - it's in August 2022 - but Trump Jr's message was a clear warning to the congresswoman that the Trump family won't forget she was one of ten House Republicans to vote to impeach.
Trump Jr., the eldest son of the former president, has become one of the Trump family's most prominent campaigners. He was a regular on the trail for his father and for other Republicans during the 2018 and 2020 elections. He's also become a strong fundraiser for the party.
Donald Trump Jr. will go to Wyoming to campaign against Republican Rep. Liz Cheney after she voted to impeach his father
Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney survived a challenge to her place in GOP Leadership after her impeachment vote, but she's been censured by the Wyoming Republican Party and has garnered one primary challenger
His warning shot came as the Senate is preparing to start Donald Trump's impeachment trial on Tuesday. He is expected to be acquitted as many Senate Republicans argue he can't be impeached since he's no longer in office.
The warning also came after Cheney doubled down on her criticism of Trump, criticizing him for claiming the election was stolen and saying he has no place in GOP leadership.
'People in the party are mistaken,'she told 'Fox New Sunday.' 'They believe that BLM and Antifa were behind what happened here at the Capitol. It's just simply not the case, not true and we're going to have a lot of work we have to do.'
'People have been lied to. The extent to which the president, President Trump for months leading up to January 6th spread the notion that the election had been stolen or that the election was rigged was a lie and people need to understand that,' she added. 'We need to make sure that we as Republicans are the party of truth that we are being honest about what really did happen in 2020 so we actually have a chance to win in 2022 and win the White House back in 2024.'
And she bluntly said the former president 'does not have a role as the leader of our party going forward.'
'The single greatest threat to our republic is a president who would put his own self interest above the Constitution, above the national interest,' she told Fox News.
Trump loyalists have been going hard after Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
In late January, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, a prominent Trump ally, flew to Wyoming to campaign against her. About 1,000 people took part, many of them carrying signs calling for Cheney's impeachment though several were supportive
Former President Trump is reportedly furious with both Cheney and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, who stood by her during the conservative challenge to her leadership.
Trump, who is at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Southern Florida, has been livid and fuming to aides about what he views as a betrayal by McCarthy for standing by Cheney, CNN reported.
Donald Trump is reportedly 'livid' at Liz Cheney and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy
On January 28, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida led a rally against Cheney in front of the Wyoming Capitol. About 1,000 people took part
Republican officials in Wyoming said they invited Liz Cheney to the censure hearing but she didn't attend. An empty chair labeled 'Representative Cheney' sat at the front of the meeting room
Wyoming State Sen. Anthony Bouchard announced he will challenge Liz Cheney in the August 2022 Republican primary
Cheney will remain as the third-ranking member of the House GOP leadership after winning the vote in the House Republican Conference, 145 to 61.
His anger came a week after McCarthy visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago to try to cool tensions and reassure the former president he still has a role to play in the GOP.
Cheney, meanwhile, already garnered one primary opponent and there is time for more to come.
Conservative State Senator Anthony Bouchard announced his challenge to her a week after she voted to impeach Trump.
Bouchard founded the gun rights group Wyoming Gun Owners and spoke at two protests at the state Capitol in recent months - one protests state COVID restrictions and the other decrying the election results.
Darin Smith, a Cheyenne attorney who lost to Cheney in the 2016 primary, said he is mulling another challenge to her.
Cheney easily won her primary contests in 2018 and 2020, with about 50,000 more votes than her second-place Republican challengers. The winner of the primary usually wins the general election in the heavily-GOP state.
But she still faces fallout even as she defends her vote.
The Wyoming Republican Party voted overwhelmingly Saturday to censure Cheney.
Only eight of the 74-member state GOP's central committee opposed the censure. The censure document accused Cheney of voting to impeach Trump even though the House of Representatives didn't offer Trump 'formal hearing or due process.'
Republican officials said they invited Cheney but she didn't attend. An empty chair labeled 'Representative Cheney' sat at the front of the meeting room during the hearing.
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