Liz Cheney Warns J.D. Vance Is 'Unfit' for Office

Former Republican Representative Liz Cheney warned that GOP Senator J.D. Vance is "unfit" for office because of his remarks about the Supreme Court potentially making an "illegitimate ruling."

Vance is facing scrutiny over comments he made during an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. During the interview, Vance addressed 2021 remarks in which he said Donald Trump should have "replaced" midlevel bureaucrats with individuals "responsive to the administration."

Stephanopoulos pressed the Ohio Republican on whether it would be OK for the president to defy the Supreme Court if it ruled against such a move.

"The Constitution says that the Supreme Court can make rulings, but if the Supreme Court—and look, I hoped that they would not do this—but if the Supreme Court said the president of the United States can't fire a general, that would be an illegitimate ruling. And the president has to have Article 2 prerogative under the Constitution to actually run the military as he sees fit," he said.

Vance's comments drew sharp criticism from Cheney, who represented Wyoming in Congress before losing her primary race in 2022 to Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman, who now represents the deeply conservative state's at-large district.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Cheney wrote: "Yesterday, @JDVance1 claimed that Trump could defy rulings of the Supreme Court as President. Vance also admitted he would have done what VP Pence refused to do on January 6th—help Trump illegally seize power. That's tyranny. Neither Trump nor Vance is fit to serve."

A Vance spokesman declined to comment when reached by Newsweek. Newsweek also reached out to Cheney's the Great Task PAC for comment via email.

Donald Trump Jr. came to Vance's defense—and recalled Cheney's primary defeat—in a post to X.

"That's funny, because the voters of Wyoming clearly decided that you weren't fit to serve, when they threw you out of office in an embarrassing 50 point blowout," he wrote.

Cheney's status among House Republicans suffered after she turned against the former president following the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of Trump supporters violently protested the 2020 presidential election results.

She was among the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach the former president after he was charged in the chamber with "incitement of insurrection." She also served on the House select committee investigating the riot and lost her post in the House Republican leadership. She has continued to speak out against Trump and about the direction she believes the GOP must take.

In 2022, Cheney endorsed Vance's Democratic challenger, then-Representative Tim Ryan. A spokesperson for Vance at the time called her endorsement the "kiss of death" for Ryan's campaign. Vance ultimately won the election by a 6-point margin and has since emerged as an outspoken conservative voice in the Senate.