Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said in an interview Thursday that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) “would not become the nominee if she were to run” for president after the Wyoming lawmaker acknowledged earlier this week she was considering a presidential bid.
“I don’t think someone who is seen outside the Trump circle would have any realistic chance of becoming the nominee in 2024, barring something I can’t foresee at this stage,” Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, told the Deseret News. “If he doesn’t run again, I think it’ll be people who either were supporters of his or people who didn’t say much about him and then would be open to become the nominee.”
“I’m not going to encourage anyone to run for president. I’ve done that myself, and that’s something I’m not doing again. I don’t know if she really wants to do that. She would not become the nominee if she were to run. I can’t imagine that would occur,” he also said.
The Utah senator, who voted in favor of impeaching Trump following the Capitol riot similar to Cheney, also said he appreciated her courage for sticking to conscience given the risk and consequences her deviation with former President Trump and much of the Republican Party posed for her.
“I salute her courage. You wouldn’t call it courage, by the way, if there were no consequence for doing what you think is right. She did what she thought was right. I believe she was right,” he told the Deseret News.
Cheney acknowledged in an interview on NBC News’s “Today” show earlier this week that she was considering a presidential bid, remarks that came one day after she lost her primary to attorney Harriet Hageman (R).
The Wyoming lawmaker drew the ire of Trump after she pushed back against his baseless allegations about the 2020 election and for later serving on a House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Trump endorsed a primary challenger to her as a result, successfully ousting the three-term incumbent.
“That’s a decision that I’m going to make in the coming months, and I’m not going to make any announcements here this morning. But it is something that I am thinking about, and I’ll make a decision in the coming months,” Cheney said when asked if she was considering running for the presidency.