The country is “sleepwalking” toward a dictatorship if it reelects Donald Trump as president next year, former Rep. Liz Cheney said in an interview that aired Sunday.

“He's told us what he will do,” Cheney told CBS News’ “Sunday Morning.” “It's very easy to see the steps that he will take. … People who say, ‘Well, if he's elected, it's not that dangerous because we have all of these checks and balances,’ don't fully understand the extent to which the Republicans in Congress today have been co-opted. … One of the things that we see happening today is a sort of a sleepwalking into dictatorship in the United States.”

The front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination by a wide margin, Trump has been running on promises of using federal authorities to prosecute his political enemies and expanding the role of the military within the U.S. Meanwhile, he faces criminal charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which he continues to falsely claim was plagued by widespread fraud.

“If you look at what Donald Trump is trying to do, he can't do it by himself,” Cheney said. “He has to have collaborators. And the story of [House Speaker] Mike Johnson is a story of a collaborator and of someone who knew then — and knows now — that what he's doing and saying is wrong, but he's willing to do it in an effort to please Donald Trump. And that's what makes it dangerous.”

Asked if Johnson was a collaborator in trying to overthrow the last presidential election, Cheney said, “Absolutely.”

Following the 2020 election, Johnson emailed House Republicans urging them to sign an amicus brief in support of a Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results in swing states.

“I believe very strongly in those principles and ideals that have defined the Republican Party, but the Republican Party of today has made a choice, and they haven’t chosen the Constitution,” Cheney added. “And so I do think it presents a threat if the Republicans are in the majority in January 2025.”

Cheney has been making the rounds promoting her book, “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning,” which will be released Tuesday.

Neither the Trump campaign nor Johnson’s office has responded to emails from Spectrum News seeking comment. 

Asked on CNN on Sunday about Cheney’s comments, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., argued reelecting President Joe Biden would be more damaging to the country than another Trump presidency, pointing to border security and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East under Biden. 

“I think Liz’s hatred of Trump is real,” Graham said. “ I understand why people don't like what he does and says at times, but in terms of actions and results, he was a far better president [than] Biden. And if we have four more years of this, Liz Cheney, then we won't recognize America, and the world will be totally on fire.”

Cheney emerged as one of Trump’s fiercest critics in the Republican Party following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Her criticism of Trump led to her being voted out of her leadership position in the House GOP conference and later losing her seat entirely.

She served as the vice chair on the House select committee that investigated Jan. 6 and the events leading up to it.