Liz Cheney Hints She Might Run Against Donald Trump in 2024

Liz Cheney acknowledged the possibility of a presidential run in 2024.J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

As the hearings of the January 6 committee get closer and closer to implicating Donald Trump criminally in the violent attack on the US Capitol, the former president is reportedly considering announcing a 2024 presidential bid earlier than he might have. Sources close to Trump told CBS News he has privately shared his intentions to announce his comeback as early as this summer, instead of waiting until after the November midterms. And if he does indeed throw in his hat in the ring for the Republican nomination, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) says she might run against him. 

British newspaper The Telegraph reported that the former president could formally announce his run in Florida this month, partially in an attempt to overshadow Gov. Ron DeSantis, a likely 2024 rival. Trump recently used his Truth Social account to share a poll showing him leading in a putative GOP primary, even though other polls have suggested DeSantis might do better with voters. 

Trump’s urge to jump in early appears to have been further fueled by his anger toward the January 6 committee hearings. “So the lowlifes Rigged and Stole a Presidential Election, and I’m the one who is on trial,” he wrote on Truth Social. “We are truly a Nation in Decline!” Trump has also lashed out against Cassidy Hutchinson, a former senior aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows whose damning testimony highlighted Trump’s desire to join the violent mob that besieged the Capitol, and his alleged assault on a Secret Service agent who told Trump he couldn’t join the insurrectionists.

During an interview with Newsmax, Trump said the hearings were an attempt to prevent him from running in 2024. “I am leading in all the polls—against Republicans and Democrats,” he said. “I am leading in the Republican polls in numbers that no one has ever even seen before. And against Biden, and anyone else they run, I am leading against them.” 

Rep. Cheney, a co-chair of the Jan. 6 committee who was stripped of her Republican leadership position for refusing to go along with most of her colleagues in supporting Trump’s Big Lie, discussed a potential run on ABC News Sunday. The Republican Party “can’t survive” if Trump is the nominee,” she said. But “there’s no question: A man as dangerous as Donald Trump can absolutely never be anywhere near the Oval Office ever again.” 

Cheney said she hasn’t made any decision just yet, but if she does run, it will be about more than her personal political ambitions: “I think about it less in terms of a decision about running for office, and more in terms of, you know, as an American—and as somebody who’s in a position of public trust now, how do I make sure that I’m doing everything I can to do the right thing; to do what I know is right for the country, and, and to protect our Constitution.”

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate