Trump's hunt for Cheney's challenger: Advisers are interrogating potential candidates to unseat the Wisconsin Rep. who voted to impeach and was chosen by Pelosi to sit on the Capitol Riot committee
- Donald Trump's team is ramping up its search for a challenger to Liz Cheney
- Trump will meet with two possible primary challengers at his golf club in Bedminister next week
- He and his supporters are furious with Cheney for supporting his second impeachment and sitting on panel investigating Jan. 6 MAGA riot
- Cheney, meanwhile, had strong fundraising quarter and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, remains popular in Wyoming
Donald Trump's team is ramping up its search for a challenger to Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who infuriated the former president when she voted for his second impeachment and with her agreement to sit on the panel investigating the Jan. 6th MAGA riot in the Capitol.
Trump will meet with two possible primary challengers at his golf club in Bedminister next week, Politico reported: state Rep. Chuck Gray and attorney Darin Smith.
He and his advisors are trying to determine which contender has what it takes to challenge Cheney, the well-connected daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Among the factors they're looking for - fundraising ability, policy positions and their overall campaign strengths.
Smith and Gray are both selling themselves to Trump, airing ads in Wyoming that tout their support of the former president.
In order to prevent Cheney from taking the primary with a plurality, Trump would have to settle on one challenger to her.
Donald Trump's team is ramping up its search for a challenger to Liz Cheney with the former president preparing to sit down with two potential primary challengers
But Rep. Liz Cheney had a strong fundraising quarter and has shrugged off Trump's fury
Cheney, meanwhile, had a strong fundraising quarter - despite being thrown out of House GOP leadership for being one of the 10 House Republicans to vote for his impeachment after he urged supporters to march on the Capitol on January 6th to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden's presidential victory.
Cheney raised $1.88 million in the second quarter of 2021, running from April to June, after raising more than $1.5 million in the first three months of the year.
And her father remains popular in the state.
Donald Trump Jr., who has been an outspoken critic of Cheney, will be part of the talks. The former president's oldest son also traveled to Wyoming earlier this year to speak out against her.
He's also criticized Cheney for serving on the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol. Speaker Nancy Pelosi named Cheney as one of her picks, guaranteeing a bipartisan panel.
And Cheney supported Pelosi's decision to block two Republicans - Congressmen Jim Banks and Jim Jordan, both strong allies of President Trump - from serving on the panel after House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy named them as their picks.
Don Jr. joked Cheney must realize her political future is with Democrats.
'Liz Cheney's internal polls must be SO BAD that she has finally figured out that her only future in politics is in the Democrat Party...So of course,' he tweeted in response to her backing of Pelosi.
Donald Trump will meet with two possible primary challengers at his golf club in Bedminister next week - Wyoming state Rep. Chuck Gray (left) and attorney Darin Smith (right)
Donald Trump Jr has repeatedly criticized Liz Cheney
The sit down with possible Cheney challengers comes as Trump is trying to establish himself as a king maker in the Republican Party.
He's trying to influence other Republican primary contests, such as in Georgia, where he is pushing former football star Herschel Walker to run for Senate.
Cheney has shrugged off the Trump family fury.
'If they think that they are going to come into Wyoming and make the argument that the people of Wyoming should vote for someone who is loyal to Donald Trump over somebody who is loyal to the Constitution, I welcome that debate,' she said during a May appearance on NBC's Today Show.
