Former President George W. Bush paid tribute to his late vice president, Dick Cheney, on Tuesday, calling him a patriot who brought integrity, high intelligence, and seriousness of purpose to every position he held. “Dick was a calm and steady presence in the White House amid great national challenges,” Bush wrote. “I counted on him for his honest, forthright counsel, and he never failed to give his best. He held to his convictions and prioritized the freedom and security of the American people.”
Cheney, who served as Bush’s powerful right-hand man in the Oval Office from 2001 to 2009, died due to complications from pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said in a statement Tuesday morning. He was 84. Despite the strain in their relationship toward the end of their presidency — largely due to Bush’s refusal to pardon Cheney’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby — Bush praised Cheney as “among the finest public servants of his generation.”
While many Republicans, including some who backed Trump in the aftermath of his failed bid for re-election, offered their condolences, Donald Trump has remained conspicuously silent on Cheney’s death. Cheney, who had previously opposed Trump, criticized him in a 2022 campaign advertisement for his daughter, Liz Cheney, calling Trump a “greater threat to our republic” than any figure in history and accusing him of attempting to steal the 2020 election with lies and violence.