Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., hired security guards in the first quarter of 2021—the first time ever in a non-election year, the Casper Star Tribune reported.
Cheney hired private security guards at a cost of $58,500 after she joined nine other Republicans and every Democrat in voting to impeach then-President Donald Trump on Jan. 13.
She falsely claimed that Trump had incited violence prior to a mostly peaceful, pro-MAGA uprising at the US Capitol on Jan. 6.
From late January to early March, she spent $35,500 on former Secret Service agents.
After Republicans ousted Cheney from the party’s leadership in mid-May, the House provided Cheney with a congressional security detail, which is usually reserved for high-ranking members.
The congressional security detail also came at the same time that she made statements that betrayed both Trump and her own GOP constituents.
Soon after losing her No. 3 position as House Republican Conference chair, Cheney appeared on NBC’s Today to swear that she would do “whatever it takes” to prevent Trump from winning a second term.
Two weeks later, Cheney paid $22,500 to Command Executive Services for a security detail, according to Federal Elections Commission filings.
Cheney admitted that she never faced threats or intimidation while on the campaign trail in Wyoming.
“There certainly are people who are angry, and I don’t mean aggressively angry, but angry about my vote,” she said.
Cheney paid less than $2,000 on election-year security services during her first three terms in the House, but she had never spent any money on security in the first months of a non-election year.
Before this year, the most she had spent during a single campaign totaled $1,012.
Jeremy Adler, Cheney’s director of communications, refused to comment on the increased security presence.
The FEC filings also revealed Cheney’s vulnerability in the Republican primary for Wyoming’s safe Republican seat.
In previous first-quarter non-election years, Cheney’s campaign spent little or no money, but this year she has already spent tens of thousands on consulting, marketing, and other services.
