Embattled Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) on Thursday’s night debate stage justified the war in Ukraine, while challenger Harriet Hageman said former President Donald Trump would have prevented it.
“It’s the frontline in the battle for freedom,” Cheney said of President Joe Biden’s involvement in the conflict with arms gifts and intelligence operations.
Dick Cheney’s daughter, who has been dubbed by Trump as a “warmonger,” has consistently supported Biden’s costly involvement in defending Ukraine’s border from Russia, aligning herself with Biden’s administration.
“[O]n the issue of Ukraine, there is no daylight between us [Biden],” Cheney wrote in a Washington Post May 6 op-ed. “And there should be no partisan divide among members in Congress. It must be the policy of the United States that the strategic objective in Ukraine is a victory for a free and democratic Ukraine.”
But Cheney’s opponent has taken a different approach to the war in Ukraine. Speaking on the debate stage with Cheney, Hageman said Russian President Vladimir Putin never would have invaded Ukraine if Trump’s strength was still in the White House.
“Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if President Trump was still the president,” she said. “I truly believe that there is a special place in hell for people who will adopt policies that are intended to increase the cost of energy, housing, and food, and that’s exactly what the current administration is doing.”