Top Trump critic Cheney loses seat in US Congress
Republican rebel Liz Cheney lost her seat in Congress on Tuesday to an election conspiracy theorist, but vowed to fight on and do "whatever it takes" to ensure that former president Donald Trump is never returned to power. Once considered Republican royalty, the lawmaker from Wyoming has become a pariah in the party over her membership on the congressional panel investigating the January 6 assault on the US Capitol – and Trump's role in fanning the flames. "I have said since January 6 that I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office, and I mean it," the Wyoming congresswoman said in a concession speech after losing her bid at reelection. Defeat for the 56-year-old daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney in the Wyoming Republican primary marks the end of the family's four-decade political association with one of America's most conservative states. The Republican nomination to contest November's midterms instead goes to 59-year-old lawyer Harriet Hageman – Trump's hand-picked candidate who has amplified his false claims of a "rigged" 2020 election. In her speech on Tuesday night, Cheney delivered a stark warning about the danger of Trump's election fraud conspiracy theories, urging politicians on both sides of the aisle to join her fight to protect US democracy. Speaking at a cattle ranch near Jackson, Cheney sought to move quickly beyond her defeat, setting out what she said was "real work" of her effort to ensure Trump never regains the White House. She blamed the former president, who is embroiled in numerous criminal and civil investigations over alleged misconduct in office, for sending the deeply-divided United States towards "crisis, lawlessness and violence" with his inflammatory rhetoric. "No American should support election deniers, for any position of genuine responsibility, [because] their refusal to follow the rule of law will corrupt our future," she warned. There is already speculation that Cheney may challenge Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 – or even run as an independent – and supporters were hoping her concession speech would double up as a blueprint for her political future. She pointedly avoided addressing the issue, but had earlier told CBS that the primary – regardless of the result – would be "the beginning of a battle that is going to continue".  Cheney is not expected to leave Capitol Hill quietly. She will continue in her leadership role on the congressional panel investigating the January 6 attack until it dissolves at the end of the year. (AFP/AP)