WASHINGTON – Then-Rep. Adam Schiff didn’t recognize who was standing next to then-Rep. Liz Cheney as the two chatted on the House floor after a moment of silence on the first anniversary of the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

Lawmakers were still wearing masks because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Schiff, a California Democrat, who investigated the Capitol riot with Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, said she eventually introduced the “older gentleman” standing nearby: her father, Dick Cheney.

“I turned and said, 'I'm sorry, Mr. Vice President, I didn't recognize you with the mask!’” Schiff, a former House member who is now in the Senate, told USA TODAY. “I thought he was another House member. I'm sure I shook his hand and told him that I appreciated his being there.”

The scene might have prompted a second or even third look from anyone who lived through President George W. Bush's administration: Democrats approached their longtime Republican adversary to offer their thanks and best wishes.

“The human side of Dick, which was sometimes well hidden, was on display," Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, who was then the House majority leader, told USA TODAY.

Pelosi: Cheney a 'patriotic American'

Cheney was more than just another former House member. And he wasn’t always appreciated by Democrats.

Decades before his death Nov. 3 at 84, Cheney was a top GOP bogeyman as Bush's vice president for advocating the war in Iraq, for defending the harsh interrogation of terrorists and for expanding domestic surveillance after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But in his later years, Democrats praised Cheney for his opposition to President Donald Trump because of the Jan. 6 riot.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-California, who became House speaker during the Bush administration in part because of the unpopularity of the Iraq war, had tangled repeatedly with Cheney when he was vice president. She called the Iraq war "a war of choice" and a "grotesque mistake." But she also appointed Liz Cheney to the committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack. Pelosi shook Dick Cheney's hand after leading the House in a moment of silence for the riot.

“Dick Cheney was a patriotic American who loved his country,” Pelosi said in a social media post Nov. 4. “While we strongly disagreed on most policy issues, his patriotism was clear when he returned to the House Floor to commemorate the first anniversary of January 6th.”

Cheney and Democrats clashed over Iraq before uniting against Trump

Cheney had helped direct the Persian Gulf War as Defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush. After Sept. 11, Cheney became the architect of the war plans in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He embraced the nickname Darth Vader because of his confidence in positions others heavily criticized. One clash arose in February 2007, when Cheney told ABC News that Pelosi's attempts to block an additional surge of troops into Iraq would "validate the al Qaeda strategy."

"I think it would be a mistake for the country," Cheney said.

Pelosi responded that critics have to challenge the president and said Cheney's reference to al Qaeda was "beneath the dignity of the sacrifice of our troops."

Cheney kept a relatively lower public profile after leaving office in 2009, as is typical of former presidents and vice presidents. He offered commentary on politics and foreign affairs, and wrote several books about politics and his health, after getting a heart transplant following his fifth heart attack. Like many in his party, Cheney endorsed Trump as the top of the Republican ticket in 2016.

But Cheney's public reputation turned when he criticized Trump for the Jan. 6 riot. He later endorsed Democratic 2024 presidential nominee Kamala Harris, then the incumbent vice president, in her campaign against Trump.

"There has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump," Cheney said at the time.

Liz Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over Jan. 6. He was acquitted in a Senate trial. She called Trump "clearly unfit" for the presidency and joined the panel in urging the Justice Department to prosecute Trump for Jan. 6.

“We all saw then how proud Vice President Cheney was to see his daughter, Liz, follow in her father’s footsteps to serve in the House with courage and integrity,” Pelosi said in her social media post. “May it be a comfort to Lynne, Liz and Mary that so many are praying for them at this sad time.”

Raskin found Cheney's 'dramatic' break from Trump 'encouraging'

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, who also served on the Jan. 6 committee and led the second impeachment of Trump, said Dick Cheney personified bipartisan opposition to the Capitol attack.

“Dick Cheney had always been seen as such a bulwark and mastermind of conservative Republican politics,” Raskin told USA TODAY. “It was a dramatic and encouraging thing to see him break so sharply from Donald Trump.”

As a 27-year professor of constitutional law, Raskin had marched against the Iraq war and vehemently opposed Dick Cheney’s policies during that period. Raskin said Cheney was a champion of the executive branch and tried to stretch the limits of presidential power – while obeying the rule of law.

“For all of our profound differences with Dick Cheney, he was not someone who said the Constitution and the rule of law didn’t matter,” Raskin said. “He just had a different interpretation of what they meant.”

At one point in the Jan. 6 investigation, Raskin defended fellow committee member Liz Cheney on the House floor against an oral attack by a fellow Republican. Dick Cheney later called to thank him.

“It was very much a paternal gesture,” Raskin said. “It reinforced for me the tender feelings.”

Hoyer: Cheney was 'no softie' but displayed 'human side' over Jan. 6

Hoyer, the second-ranking House Democrat when the Jan. 6 anniversary memorial was held, said he thanked Cheney for personifying the bipartisan view that the fatal riot in the U.S. Capitol should never be repeated. Hoyer had served with Cheney in the House during the 1980s and knew the second-ranking Republican as a partisan conservative who was "very, very tough."

“Because he was no softie, his statement was even stronger that, ‘Yes, I believe in a strong, centralized president, but I don’t believe in insurrection. I don’t believe in treason. I don’t believe in undermining the Constitution,’” Hoyer said.

Hoyer said he had strongly supported Liz Cheney in standing up to the president, despite losing her House leadership position and later her reelection campaign to a GOP primary challenger who was backed by Trump − because of the Jan. 6 investigation.

“She called upon her fellow Republicans to show the same kind of courage when the emperor had no clothes, to say the emperor had no clothes, with the knowledge that the emperor was very powerful and could respond very negatively,” Hoyer said. "In fact, he did, sadly."

Cheney becomes GOP outcast over Jan. 6

Dick and Liz Cheney were the only two Republicans to attend the moment of silence on the 2022 anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack.

"I am deeply disappointed at the failure of many members of my party to recognize the grave nature of the January 6 attacks and the ongoing threat to our nation," Dick Cheney said in a statement at the time.

“The importance of January 6th as an historic event cannot be overstated,” Cheney added. “I was honored and proud to join my daughter on the House floor to recognize this anniversary, to commend the heroic actions of law enforcement that day, and to reaffirm our dedication to the Constitution.”

Trump was a longtime critic of Bush and Cheney, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He also faced federal and state criminal charges over his role in Jan. 6, though the cases were either dropped or remain on hold while Trump is in the White House.

The current president has not made any public comments about Cheney since his death. But he made his views known about Cheney in a social media post in September 2024 after the former GOP vice president once despised by Democrats crossed party lines to endorse Harris, blasting him as "irrelevant" and a "Republican in name only."

"He’s the King of Endless, Nonsensical Wars, wasting Lives and Trillions of Dollars, just like Comrade Kamala Harris," Trump wrote.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dick Cheney, a longtime Democratic bogeyman, became an ally opposing Trump

Reporting by Bart Jansen and Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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