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The late vice president had called President Trump “a coward” and a “threat to our republic” and supported Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.
Nov. 4, 2025, 4:23 p.m. ET
Prominent Republicans in Congress on Tuesday expressed admiration for the life and career of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who died on Monday, honoring the man whose later years were characterized by his staunch opposition to President Trump.
Speaker Mike Johnson started off a news conference on Tuesday speaking about the former vice president and congressman.
“The scripture is very clear — we give honor where honor is due,” Mr. Johnson said of Mr. Cheney. “The honor is certainly due to him, and our prayers go out to the family.”
Standing next to Mr. Johnson, Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican in the House, said that Mr. Cheney had “lived an incredible life” and that he and his colleagues mourned his passing.
Other Republicans joined Mr. Johnson in paying tribute to Mr. Cheney, breaking with the president, who has remained silent on the death of a towering conservative who called Mr. Trump “a coward” and the greatest “threat to our republic.” In the 2024 presidential race, he supported Mr. Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Former Representative Liz Cheney, his daughter, was one of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Trump for inciting violence and a deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Ms. Cheney then lost her re-election bid in 2022 to her primary opponent, whom Mr. Trump backed.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that the White House had not been involved in planning Mr. Cheney’s funeral but that Mr. Trump was aware of the former vice president’s passing. She also noted that the American flags at the White House had been lowered to half-staff “in accordance with statutory law.”
Other Trump allies chimed in on Tuesday, paying their tribute to Mr. Cheney.
Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, called Mr. Cheney “a lifelong public servant who believed deeply in our country.” Representative Lisa McClain, Republican of Michigan, said she honored Mr. Cheney’s “devotion to serving our nation.”
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, hailed Mr. Cheney for his “unashamedly aggressive” foreign policy positions and said he “lived a life of few regrets.” Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, also praised the former vice president’s “unflinching leadership” in shaping U.S. foreign policy in the years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Mr. Cheney led the defense measures across the nation as the attacks unfolded, evacuating government leaders to safety and alerting American forces across the globe, as President George W. Bush was away visiting a school in Florida.
As the vice president who wielded considerable influence in Mr. Bush’s administration, Mr. Cheney advocated aggressive policies including warrantless surveillance, indefinite detention and brutal interrogation tactics. He also pushed for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, saying that its government was harboring “weapons of mass destruction” targeted at the United States, a claim that turned out to be inaccurate.
Democratic leaders during Mr. Cheney’s tenure fiercely criticized the Bush administration’s war in Iraq, which dragged on for years, and called for the withdrawal of troops. But on Tuesday, some honored Mr. Cheney’s life and emphasized his opposition to Mr. Trump and his agenda.
Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, who was the House speaker during the final two years of the Bush administration, called Mr. Cheney “a patriotic American who loved his country” and praised him for having attended a moment of silence in the House commemorating the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot.
“While we strongly disagreed on most policy issues, his patriotism was clear,” Ms. Pelosi said in a statement.
Abigail Spanberger, a former Democratic representative running for governor of Virginia in Tuesday’s election, also offered her condolences to Mr. Cheney’s family.
Mr. Bush offered a lengthy statement to his partner in the White House, calling Mr. Cheney’s death “a loss to the nation and a sorrow to his friends.”
“History will remember him as among the finest public servants of his generation — a patriot who brought integrity, high intelligence and seriousness of purpose to every position he held,” he said.
Erica L. Green contributed reporting.
Minho Kim covers breaking news and climate change for The Times. He is based in Washington.
