Former Vice President Dick Cheney told CNN Friday that he will support presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in the 2016 race.
Cheney said that he has always supported his party’s nominee and the candidates in the 2016 field did not change his stance, according to CNN’s Jamie Gangel.
Trump has condemned the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq, of which Cheney was a principle architect, as a “big, fat mistake.”
Few establishment Republicans have been willing to clearly state their support for Trump. Cheney’s former boss, President George W. Bush, announced this week that he won’t endorsing Trump or attend the Republican convention in Cleveland. Former president George H.W. Bush and 2012 nominee Mitt Romney also said they plan to skip out on an endorsement and a trip to the convention.
While 2008 nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has said he plans to vote for his party’s candidate, he doesn’t plan to attend the Cleveland convention and has emphatically criticized Trump throughout the 2016 race.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) commented on Cheney’s surprise endorsement Friday afternoon, saying he respectfully disagrees with the former vice president.
“Dick Cheney’s a great man. We see the world a lot alike when it comes to foreign policy. I can understand when people want to support the nominee of the Republican Party. I would like to be able to do that, but I just can’t,” Graham told CNN.
