Liz Cheney: Trump critic blasts Republican 'personality cult' after defeat

A leading Republican critic of Donald Trump says the party has "embraced his cult of personality" after she was ousted in a primary election.

Liz Cheney, 56, was defeated by the political newcomer and Trump-backed candidate Harriet Hageman in Wyoming.

She had faced an uphill battle to win re-election after joining the congressional committee investigating Mr Trump's attempts to cling to power.

Ms Cheney - once a rising star in the party - also voted to impeach Mr Trump.

The primary election in the broadly conservative state highlighted the competing wings of the Republican Party - with more traditional conservatives facing off against Trump-backed candidates around the country ahead of mid-term elections in November.

The result means Ms Cheney, a three-term congresswoman and the eldest daughter of former Vice-President Dick Cheney, will not contest her seat in the US House of Representatives which she has held since 2017.

It illustrated the continuing influence of Mr Trump, who has backed dozens of candidates ahead of the mid-term elections that will determine control of Congress as well as governorships and state legislatures.

And those candidates - who have mostly repeated his false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election and defended him amid mounting legal troubles - have performed well.