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- George W. Bush is joining the battle between GOP Rep. Liz Cheney and Donald Trump.
- In his first event of the 2022 campaign cycle, Bush will hold a fundraiser for Cheney in Dallas in October.
- Bush has condemned the Capitol rioters and Republicans who spread lies about the election.
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Former President George W. Bush is wading into the red-hot intra-party battle between Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and former President Donald Trump.
In his first event of the 2022 campaign cycle, Bush will hold a fundraiser for Cheney in Dallas in October, multiple news outlets reported Wednesday. This comes just two weeks after Trump endorsed Cheney's GOP primary opponent, Harriet Hageman.
Trump has aggressively targeted Cheney ever since she voted to impeach him for inciting the deadly Capitol riot in January and repeatedly condemned his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Cheney accused Trump and his allies of "poisoning our democratic system," urged her party to reject what she called "the dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality," and broke from most of her GOP colleagues in supporting a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The Republican party retaliated against Cheney by stripping her of her leadership role in May. Trump has called the third-term congresswoman a "RINO," or "Republican in name only," and a "bitter, horrible human being."
The Wyoming congresswoman has remained defiant in the face of Trump's repeated attacks, tweeting "bring it" following Trump's endorsement earlier this month.
Bush has previously indicated his support for Cheney, who is a daughter of his former vice president, Dick Cheney. In January, Bush's chief of staff, Freddy Ford revealed that Bush had plans to call his former VP to wish him a happy birthday and praise his daughter's work shortly after she voted to impeach.
While Bush hasn't denounced Trump by name, he's repeatedly condemned the Capitol riot, criticized "the reckless behavior of some political leaders" and their "lack of respect" for US institutions, "traditions," and law enforcement in the wake of the riot, and dismissed false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, Bush compared the Capitol rioters to the 9/11 perpetrators.
"There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home," Bush said. "But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. And it is our continuing duty to confront them."
Several other prominent Republicans, including former Bush advisors, are also scheduled to attend Bush's fundraiser for Cheney.