Donald Trump Jr vows to campaign against Liz Cheney

The Trump wing of the Republican Party failed to oust Cheney from her leadership position in a secret ballot

Donald Trump Jr has said that he will travel to Wyoming to campaign against the state's only representative and the number 3 House RepublicanLiz Cheney during the 2022 midterms.

Mr Trump told Politico about the state: “I hear it’s lovely during primary season." This comes after reports suggesting that former President Trump is determined to take down any Republican who has gone against him. Ms Cheney was one of ten House Republicans to vote to impeach Mr Trump after the Capitol riot.

At the time of the riot, Ms Cheney said: “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”

The Trump wing of the Republican Party failed to oust her from her leadership position in a secret ballot in which 145 members voted to support Ms Cheney against 61 who voted for her removal.

In an interview Sunday with Fox News, Ms Cheney said: “Somebody who has provoked an attack on the United States Capitol to prevent the counting of electoral votes, which resulted in five people dying, who refused to stand up immediately when he was asked and stop the violence, that is a person who does not have a role as a leader of our party going forward."

Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, who travelled to Wyoming to rally against Ms Cheney, has in recent days directed his ire at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

On Sunday, Mr Gaetz retweeted a message that said: “Kevin McCarthy vouched for Liz Cheney. Everything she says is on him," and added: “Kevin put it all on the line for Liz. Every House Republican knows it.”

Read more: Follow live updates on the Trump post-presidency

Ms Cheney told Fox News: “We have to make sure that we are able to convey to the American voters… that we actually can be trusted to handle the challenges this nation faces, like Covid, and that’s going to require us to focus on substance and policy and issues going forward, but we should not be embracing the former president."

She was censured by the Wyoming Republican Party on Saturday, but she brushed off the action saying that party leaders were "mistaken".

“They believe that [Black Lives Matter] and Antifa were behind what happened here at the Capitol. That’s just simply not the case, it’s not true, and we are going to have a lot of work we have to do,” Ms Cheney told Fox News.

“People have been lied to. The extent to which… President Trump for months leading up to January 6 spread the notion that the election had been stolen or that the election was rigged was a lie, and people need to understand that.

“We need to make sure that we as Republicans are the party of truth and that we are being honest about what really did happen in 2020 so we actually have a chance to win in 2022 and win the White House back in 2024," she said.