Former President Bush recently made financial contributions to two Republican lawmakers who are coming under primary challenges after they joined Democrats to impeach former President Trump as a result of the January 6 protest at the United States Capitol.
Late last year, George Bush gave funds to Congresswoman Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) and Senator Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) re-election efforts, Politico reported, mentioning campaign finance documents filed on Monday.
In Oct. 2021, the 43rd president gave the maximum personal contribution of $5,800 to Liz Cheney. The Wyoming lawmaker, despite her bad conservative voting record, and getting the ire of the GOP Party for her criticism of Donald Trump, specifically mentioning his claims of fraud concerning the 2020 election.
Cheney previously was the Republican conference chairman, or the third-ranking member of the GOP Party, but the House Republican caucus voted just last May to remove her from the post. The Wyoming GOP Party similarly voted to censure her in Feb. for “voting to impeach Trump.”
Bush also gave money to Murkowski, another lawmaker who wanted to impeach Trump previously this year, adding the maximum possible primary donation of $2,900 to her re-election campaign coffers. According to FEC records, the donation marked the first donation from Bush to the Alaskan senator, who is well known for being the most liberal GOP members in the chamber.
The donations, while somewhat small in total amount, are symbolic of the increasing rift between the moderate or establishment GOP Party of the Bush era and the current GOP Party, which is mostly supportive of Donald Trump. The donations were the first donations Bush made last year.
They also directly go against endorsements that Donald Trump made in the races. The 45th president has backed GOP challengers wanting to unseat Murkowski, Cheney, and others as to punish them for their impeachment votes against Trump.
In Wyoming, Donald Trump has publicly endorsed lawyer Harriet Hageman to unseat Liz Cheney. The race is expected to be “among the bloodiest” in the state’s history. In Alaska, Donald Trump threw his support behind former Alaska Dept. of Administration commissioner Kelly Tshibaka.
Both Alaska’s and Wyoming’s primaries are set to happen on August 16.
