Cheney keeps up fire on Trump over Jan. 6, bashes tariff policy in front of business audience

Former Rep. Liz Cheney, a top GOP voice opposing Donald Trump, tore into the former president Tuesday over the Jan. 6, 2021, mob attack on the U.S. Capitol and his tariff policies.

Speaking with ABC News' Jonathan Karl, Cheney excoriated Trump as unfit for office and a threat to American democracy for his role in sparking the mob, echoing an argument she's been making on the campaign trail with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate.

"I believe he's unfit, and he's dangerous, but I made the decision beyond that to endorse Vice President Harris. And it is certainly the case that there are policies on which we disagree, but she is somebody who's devoted her life to public service. She is somebody who, even if you disagree with her, and maybe especially if you disagree with her, I can tell you, she will listen," Cheney, of Wyoming, said at the Detroit Economic Club.

"You all in business, when you think about, what are you looking for in somebody you hire, you're looking for somebody that you can trust, you're looking for somebody who's going to be responsible, who's going to operate in good faith," she told the audience. "You certainly wouldn't hire somebody who was unstable and erratic. And we need to think about this election in those terms."

The comments marked the latest example of the unusual and strategic relationship between Cheney, who was once a staunch House conservative, and Harris, a former lawmaker from sapphire blue California.

But in Cheney's telling, the tie between the two of them, as exhibited through a blitz through the industrial Midwest Monday, is natural.

"At the end of the day, as a conservative, as somebody who's worked all over the world, worked in places where people aren't free, somebody who understands the incredible value, the miracle of this system that we have in this country, there's only one choice. There's only one candidate, in my view, in this race that we can say, 'we'll count on them to uphold the rule of law,'" she said, before predicting more Republicans will vote for Harris than polling suggests.

Cheney also targeted her argument for her business-minded audience, taking the opportunity to take aim at Trump's economic plan, which leans heavily on massive tariff increases on allies and adversaries alike -- which economists say will lead to price hikes for domestic consumers.

"When you hear him talk now about much more expansive, he says it's the most beautiful word that there is, and he's going to be a tariff president, and he's going to impose tariffs of 100%, 200%, think about the fact that he will be able to do that completely unilaterally, and you all know, the impact that that will have," she said.

Harris has sought to build up her credibility with the business community, including by proposing increased funding for those looking to start small businesses and proposing corporate tax hikes that are lower than the increases President Joe Biden has pushed, an appeal which Cheney tried to impress upon her audience in Detroit.

"You've got The Wall Street Journal, which has certainly not been a fan of the Democrats, but The Wall Street Journal making clear from having surveyed economists that his economic plans are going to increase inflation more than Vice President Harris's are. His economic plans are going to add to the debt far more than Vice President Harris' will," she said.