A combative Liz Cheney lashed out at leaders of her own Republican Party late on Tuesday (local time), taking to the House floor on the eve of her near-certain ouster from a leadership post to warn that former US President Donald Trump and his Republican supporters are threatening to “undermine our democracy.” In an abruptly announced evening appearance in a nearly empty House chamber, Cheney cast herself as a defender of the Constitution. Her four-minute speech also served notice that she had no intention of backing down in her battle against a former president who has retained loyalty among many Republican politicians and voters, even as it leaves her once promising political career in question.