Former US Rep. Liz Cheney implored new college graduates not to compromise when it comes to the truth, blasting her Republican colleagues in the House for not doing enough to combat former President Donald Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen.
In a commencement speech at Colorado College, the Wyoming Republican repeated her fierce criticism of Trump but shied away from talking about her 2024 re-election campaign or her own political future.
Cheney, who graduated from Colorado College in 1988, recalled as a political science student entering a building on campus that had a Bible verse inscribed above the entrance that read, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
“I had to choose between lying and losing my leadership position in the House,” Cheney said Sunday in Colorado Springs, connecting his experiences as a student with his work in the U.S. House of Representatives. “When I spoke to my colleagues on my last morning as chairman of the Republican Conference in May 2021, I told them that if they wanted a leader who would lie, they should elect someone else.”
In three terms, Cheney rose to the No. 3 GOP leadership position in the House, a job he lost after voting to impeach Trump for the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol and then not budging on his criticism to the ex-president.
Cheney’s speech touched on themes similar to those he has promoted since leaving office in January: addressing his work on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and confronting se to the threat he thinks Trump poses to democracy. She also encouraged more women to run for office and criticized one of the election denial lawyers who worked for Trump after the 2020 election for recent comments about college student voting.
“Cleta Mitchell, an election denier and adviser to former President Trump, recently told a gathering of Republicans that it’s crucially important to make sure college students don’t vote,” Cheney said. “Those who are trying to unravel the foundations of our republic, who threaten the rule of law and the sanctity of our elections, know they cannot succeed if you vote.”
In an audio recording of Mitchell’s presentation at a recent Republican National Committee retreat, she warns of polling places on college campuses and the ease of voting as potential problems, The Washington Post reported.
Most students and parents in the audience applauded during Cheney’s remarks, but some booed. Some students who opposed Cheney’s choice as speaker pushed their chairs away from the stage as she spoke.
Cheney’s speaking schedule and busy schedule have fueled speculation about whether he may enter the 2024 GOP presidential primary since he left office. Candidates ranging from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley have calibrated their statements about Trump, aiming to counter his attacks without alienating the supporters who won him the White House last year. seven years
While some have offered measured criticism, no declared or potential challenger has embraced anti-Trump messaging to the same extent as Cheney. She did not comment on her plans Sunday, but has previously said she is undecided about whether she wants to run for president.
Although she would face an uphill battle, Cheney’s fierce anti-Trump stance and her role as House committee vice chair raised her platform high enough to ask a national network of donors and critics to Trump to support a run for the White House.
A super PAC organized to support his candidacy has remained active, including buying attack ads on the New Hampshire airwaves against Trump this month.
After leaving office and being replaced by a Trump-backed Republican who defeated her in last year’s primaries, Cheney was appointed a professor at the University of Virginia and wrote “Oath and Honor,” a memoir scheduled to hit shelves in November.
Two of Cheney’s five children, as well as their mother, are also liberal arts college graduates.
Cheney’s speaking tour appears to be picking up steam. He is scheduled to appear Thursday at the Mackinac Policy Conference in Michigan.
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Metz reported from Salt Lake City.
