Former Vice President Dick Cheney rips 'coward' Trump in election ad for daughter Liz

Former Vice President Dick Cheney assailed ex-President Donald Trump as a "coward" and a prime threat to the United States in a new campaign ad for his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney, days before her Republican primary election in Wyoming.

"In our nation's 246-year history, there has never been an individual who has posed a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump," the elder Cheney said in a straight-to-camera ad, which was shared online Thursday afternoon.

"He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him," said Cheney, 81, who served for eight years as vice president in the George W. Bush administration.

"He is a coward. A real man wouldn't lie to his supporters," Cheney said. "He lost his election and he lost big. I know it, he knows it, and deep down, I think most Republicans know it."

The 60-second spot, titled "He Knows It," will run across Wyoming and online starting Friday, the Cheney campaign said. The ad comes less than two weeks before the Wyoming Republican primary, where the incumbent Cheney appears to be in trouble.

Cheney is Trump's biggest Republican critic in Congress and a leading member of the House select committee investigating him over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. For her refusal to back down from her criticisms of the former president, she has been largely ostracized by her party and condemned by Trump's loyal base of Republican voters.

Polls of the Aug. 16 Wyoming primary show Cheney trailing her top Republican opponent, Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, by wide margins. Hageman has echoed Trump's false claims that his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election was "rigged" by widespread fraud.

Yet Cheney, unlike some other House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 riot, has kept up her vocal attacks on Trump over the "Big Lie."

Her persistence may have damaged her standing among some Republican voters, but it has not hampered her fundraising efforts: She has far outraised her competitors while assuring key donors and supporters that she will continue to hold Trump accountable. Dick Cheney has been involved in these talks as well, CNBC previously reported.

"Lynne and I are so proud of Liz for standing up for the truth, doing what's right, honoring her oath to the Constitution when so many in our party are too scared to do so," Dick Cheney said in the ad.

"Liz is fearless. She never backs down from a fight. There is nothing more important she will ever do than lead the effort to make sure Donald Trump is never again near the Oval Office. And she will succeed," he said in the ad.

"I'm Dick Cheney. I proudly voted for my daughter. I hope you will too," he said.