Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, calling her a ''smug fool,'' and said that ''to look at her is to despise her'' in a statement he released on Wednesday.
Trump's remarks came after the Wyoming representative pressured her fellow Republicans to back a vote to refer former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon for criminal prosecution, encouraging them to go against House Minority Leader |Kevin McCarthy, The Hill reported.
''Low-polling Liz Cheney (19%) is actually very bad news for the Democrats, people absolutely cannot stand her as she fights for the people that have decimated her and her father for many years,'' Trump wrote.
''She is a smug fool, and the great State of Wyoming, together with the Republican Party, fully understands her act. To look at her is to despise her. Hopefully she will continue down this unsustainable path and she will soon be gone!''
Cheney called on her fellow Republicans to back the contempt vote while appearing before the House Rules Committee, which sets the terms of debate for Thursday's vote. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot, of which Cheney is vice chair, voted on Tuesday to hold Bannon in contempt after he refused to provide documents or appear for a scheduled deposition.
Cheney said her GOP colleagues shouldn't let fear of Trump prevent them from doing the right thing.
''I've heard from a number of my colleagues in the last several days who say they, quote, ‘Just don't want this target on their back.'
''They're just trying to keep their heads down, they don't want to anger Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, who has been especially active in attempting to block the investigation of events of Jan. 6, despite the fact that he clearly called for such a commission,'' said Cheney, who voted to impeach Trump for his behavior on Jan. 6.
The Wyoming representative went on, asking her fellow Republicans ''to do what you know is right, to think of the long arc of history. We are told that it bends towards justice.
''But it does so only because of the actions of men and women in positions of public trust. ... Will you be able to say you did everything possible to ensure Americans got the truth about those events, or did you look away? Did you make partisan excuses and accept the unacceptable?''
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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