Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he has always supported the
Republican presidential nominee and will do the same this year, even as
it has become clear that that nominee will be Donald Trump.
Cheney made the remarks to
CNN's Jamie Gangel
Friday, putting him in sharp contrast with other GOP establishment
figures who have gone on the record as saying they will not vote for
Trump.
Jeb Bush, brother of former President George W. Bush, whom Cheney served under as vice president,
released a statement Friday
saying he would not support the presumptive GOP nominee and real estate
billionaire due to character concerns and his belief that Trump is not a
"consistent conservative."
Sen. Lindsey Graham also stated that he will not back Trump.
The South Carolina Republican expressed surprise when told Cheney would be supporting Trump.
"Dick Cheney's a great man," Graham said, CNN reports. "We see the world
a lot alike when it comes to foreign policy. I can understand when
people want to support the nominee of the Republican Party. I would like
to be able to do that, but I just can't.
"Maybe I'm the outlier here. Probably am. There'll be Democrats who
can't support Hillary Clinton, and you know some of them will hold their
nose and vote for her. Some of them will do it enthusiastically."
Cheney slammed Trump in a February appearance on Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier."
Politico reports
that Cheney, in reply to a question about Trump's remark that he and
George W. Bush had "lied" about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction
in order to wage war with that country in 2003, said: "He sounds like a
liberal Democrat to me, Bret. He's wrong, and he's I think, deliberately
promoting those views in order to advance his political interests."
Asked then if he could support Trump if he secured the GOP nomination,
Cheney replied, "I've said I'll support the nominee of my party.
"If he operates the way he's operating, sounding like a liberal Democrat, I don't think he'll get the nomination."