Former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney has said he will vote for democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris over Republican former President Donald Trump in the 5 November US elections, following a similar statement made by his daughter Liz Cheney this week.
Mr Trump and Ms Harris are locked in a tight race for the vote and face off in a debate next week.
Some Republicans upset with Mr Trump’s control over their party and his actions have recently thrown support behind Ms Harris, including dozens of former staffers of former Presidents George HW Bush and George W Bush.
Dick Cheney served as vice president under Republican President George W Bush from 2001 till 2009.
He has faced criticism over the years from human rights groups as he played a large role in planning the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which produced a heavy civilian death toll and human rights abuses.
Republican former congresswoman Liz Cheney, the former vice president’s daughter, has also been a vocal critic of the current Republican presidential candidate, including over the 6 January, 2021 storming of the US Capitol by Trump supporters.
Dick Cheney said yesterday that “in our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump”.
He added: “As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”
The Harris campaign said that the Cheneys had joined “a growing movement of Republicans putting country over party” by supporting Ms Harris.
Mr Trump called the Cheneys “irrelevant RINO” in a social media post, using a term he applies to Republicans not loyal to him, which stands for “Republicans in Name Only”.