Former President Trump is criticizing former President George W. Bush for backing Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) effort to keep her seat in what will likely be a hotly contested GOP primary.
In a statement released late Wednesday through his Save America PAC, Trump slammed Bush and his longtime political adviser Karl Rove for endorsing “warmongering and very low polling, Liz Cheney.”
“Bush is the one who got us into the quicksand of the Middle East and, after spending trillions of dollars and killing nearly a million people, the Middle East was left in worse shape after 21 years than it was when he started his stupidity,” Trump said.
He added that the conflict “ended with Biden’s most embarrassing in history withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
Bush and Rove are scheduled to hold a fundraiser for Cheney in Dallas on Oct. 18. Cheney’s father, Dick Cheney, served as vice president during both of Bush’s terms in the White House.
The event, which will be Bush’s first campaign event of the 2022 midterm elections, pits two former presidents against each other in an already contentious election.
Trump is targeting the Wyoming Republican after she voted to impeach him for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Earlier this month, Trump endorsed attorney Harriet Hageman to replace her.
Trump in Wednesday night’s statement further went after Bush for not pardoning I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former chief of staff to Dick Cheney who was convicted for leaking a CIA officer’s identity. Trump pardoned Libby in April 2018.
“I didn’t know Scooter, but gave him a full pardon—not at their request, but because he deserved it. He suffered greatly,” Trump said. “Former Vice President Cheney called to effusively thank me. Now he is on the side of his daughter who is so bad for Wyoming and the United States that she is polling at record lows.”