Harriet Hageman once rebuked Trump and endorsed Liz Cheney. She’s now

On Sep 30, 2021

In a speech endorsing Cheney’s 2016 congressional campaign Hageman attacked the “concerted efforts to force true conservatives to sit down and shut up,” adding those efforts “have never worked on me and I know that they will not work on and have no effect on Liz Cheney.”

The comments from Hageman, found by CNN’s KFile in footage of the Wyoming Republican Party’s convention that year, show the abrupt about-face from the Wyoming attorney, who received Trump’s backing in the GOP primary against Cheney earlier this month. Once a leader of efforts to oppose Trump’s nomination, she now calls Trump “the greatest president of my lifetime.”

“I know that Liz Cheney is a proven, courageous, constitutional conservative, someone who has the education, the background and experience to fight effectively for Wyoming on a national stage,” Hageman said in 2016. “There have been and will continue to be concerted efforts to force true conservatives to sit down and shut up. Those efforts have never worked on me and I know that they will not work on and have no effect on Liz Cheney. I am proud to introduce Liz Cheney as the next congressional representative from the great state of Wyoming.”

Earlier in the remarks, while introducing Cheney, Hageman calls her “my friend” and someone who will bring a “national spotlight” to federal overreach in the state.

The video of Hageman’s remarks comes as the New York Times reported that Hageman, then a delegate for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, took part in efforts to block Trump from receiving the nomination at the Republican National Convention in 2016. Cruz, backed by Hageman, won all 14 delegates at the Wyoming convention.

Hageman, according to the New York Times, called Trump “racist and xenophobic” in 2016.

In a lengthy statement to CNN, Hageman attacked Cheney for not being “Wyoming in the sense of what that means,” and said that Cheney’s “betrayal started well before the 2020 election.”

“At a time when we needed all hands on deck, Liz Cheney jumped ship, dogpaddled to the other side, and is now shooting back at us,” said Hageman. “When Liz Cheney voted to impeach President Trump, she betrayed Wyoming, she betrayed this country, and she betrayed me. Most of the people of Wyoming feel the same way.”

A video of the Republican National Convention in 2016 also shows Hageman voting in support of “unbinding” delegates — making delegates free to vote for whatever presidential candidate they choose regardless of the results of a caucus or primary in the state.

The movement to “unbind” delegates was seen as a last chance for anti-Trump Republicans to prevent Trump from becoming the Republican nominee in 2016.

During a lengthy RNC rules committee meeting in July 2016, Hageman spoke in support of incentivizing states to hold closed primaries — so that only registered Republicans could vote in GOP primaries — an amendment that would affect future presidential elections and benefit more conservative candidates. At the time, Trump’s political…