Liz Cheney weighs third-party US presidential run, says Trump threatens democracy

By Susan Heavey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican former U.S. Representative Liz Cheney, an outspoken critic of ex-President Donald Trump who co-chaired the congressional probe of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, said she is weighing a third-party bid for the White House in 2024.

In media interviews, Cheney said she was considering running for president next year as a third-party conservative candidate or on a bipartisan ticket that would include both a Republican and a Democrat. She cited Trump as a threat to democracy and the United States.

"We face threats that could be existential to the United States, and we need a candidate who is going to be able to deal with and address and confront all of those challenges," Cheney told the Washington Post in remarks published on Tuesday.

She said she planned to decide on a run in coming months.

Cheney, 57, who lost her re-election bid in 2022 amid a tide of pro-Trump sentiment in her party, served as the top Republican on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol attack by Trump supporters who wanted to overturn his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

She has kept her focus on the former president, echoing Biden in saying that another Trump presidency would threaten American democratic institutions.

"I happen to think democracy is at risk at home, obviously, as a result of Donald Trump’s continued grip on the Republican Party, and I think democracy is at risk internationally as well," she told the Post.

Cheney made similar remarks in interviews with USA Today and MSNBC coinciding with the launch Tuesday of her memoir, "Oath and Honor: a Memoir and a Warning." She could not immediately be reached for comment.

Despite Cheney's political setbacks, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney has deep roots in the Republican Party and has cultivated a national network of donors that has enabled her to stockpile millions of dollars.

Trump remains the frontrunner in the 2024 race for the Republican presidential nomination despite indictments in four state and federal criminal cases, including one in Washington over his role in efforts to overturn his 2020 loss.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has vowed to carry out reprisals against those he perceives to have wronged him if elected again. Representatives for his campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(This story has been corrected to change the year Cheney lost her re-election bid to 2022, from 2020, in paragraph 5)

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Jonathan Oatis)