Sen. Mitt Romney publicly backed embattled Rep. Liz Cheney on Tuesday in the increasingly public fight over her disagreements with President Trump and her party leadership role.
In a tweet the day after Ms. Cheney called Mr. Trump’s claim of a stolen 2020 presidential election ”THE BIG LIE,” Mr. Romney praised Ms. Cheney as a “person of conscience.”
“Every person of conscience draws a line beyond which they will not go: Liz Cheney refuses to lie,” the Utah Republican wrote.
Mr. Romney is the only senator in U.S. history to vote to convict a president of his own party, following on the vote of Ms. Cheney and nine other House Republicans to impeach Mr. Trump.
He drew a comparison between the two situations Tuesday.
“As one of my Republican Senate colleagues said to me following my impeachment vote: ‘I wouldn’t want to be a member of a group that punished someone for following their conscience,’” he wrote.
Ms. Cheney is the third-ranking House Republican as the chairwoman of the party’s conference, but that position was looking in greater jeopardy than ever Tuesday over her increasing criticism of Mr. Trump.