♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, political payback. wyoming republican liz cheney pays the price after standing up to the former president. >> freedom must not, cannot, and will not die here. >> attacked by trump as she helps lead the january 6th investigation. >> the people of wyoming are going to tell her, "liz, you're fired, get out of here." >> beaten by a primary opponent who earned trump's ence doersment and embraced his conspiracies. we're on the ground to see why so many in this red state turned against her. >> why did you not vote for liz ceney? >> because i did not feel that she represented the republican party.

plus, struck by lightning. a sole survivor of a lightning strike that killed three people just outside the white house shares her story. >> i don't know why i survived. i just don't think it's fair. >> reliving that horrific moment. >> i died and came back. >> and reuniting with those who rushed to her side. why she thinks her shoes may have saved her life. and the speed of sound. flying from new york to london in less than four hours? how supersonic may soon be the future of flight. fasten your seat belt.

♪good vibes by moa l.m. munoz & ryan t. short♪ ♪♪ ♪bout to get down ving it up♪ ♪never touch ground, never enough♪ ♪bout to get down, living it up♪ ♪never touch ground, never enough♪ ♪got me feeling good♪ ♪vibes♪

♪♪ ♪got me feeling good♪ ♪vibes♪ ♪♪ ♪everything's everything's alright alright♪ get a free storage upgrade and case when you pre-order. ♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. we begin tonight with a major test of former president trump's political power and clear new evidence of the control he still has over the republican party. wyoming representative liz cheney, who stood up to trump and became one of his fiercest critics, has now paid a political price, losing her congressional race. abc's chief washington correspondent jonathan karl is in jackson hole, wyoming, tonight. jon? >> reporter: liz cheney gave what in the beginning sounded like a concession speech. she acknowledged that her

opponent, harriet hagerman, endorsed by donald trump, won. she said she had called hagerman to congratulate her. then it took a turn. this is unlike any concession speech i have ever seen. it was a call to arms. she made it very clear she has lost one battle here in wyoming, the state that donald trump won by the greatest margin of any state in 2020. but she is going to continue to fight on and issuing a call to arms to defeat donald trump and all that he stands for, warning that his encouragement of conspiracy theories is dangerous and could lead to violence. >> freedom must not, cannot, and will not die here. >> reporter: tonight, a decisive defeat for the republican who has made it her mission to bring down donald trump. liz cheney losing to her trump-endorsed opponent, hair yet hagerman, for the state's lone congressional seat. >> this primary election is over. but now the real work begins.

liz cheney's concession was really a call to arms. >> this is not a game. every one of us must be committed to the eternal defense of this miraculous experiment called america. >> reporter: the 56-year-old mother of five vowed to keep trump out of the white house. >> i have said since january 6th that i will do whatever it takes to ensure donald trump is never again anywhere near the oval office. >> reporter: for months, cheney has been leading the congressional investigation into trump's actions before and during the january 6th assault on the u.s. capitol. making the case he bears responsibility for the riot and much more. >> donald trump cannot escape responsibility by being willfully blind. >> reporter: most of her constituents in deep red wyoming disagreed. >> i would vote for a democrat before i would vote for cheney. >> why did you not vote for liz cheney? >> because i did not feel that

she represent ed the republican party. she took off on her own. >> she thought that she knew what was right for wyoming residents. sorry, wyoming residents know what's right for wyoming residents. >> reporter: her stand made liz cheney donald trump's top target, as republicans in congress stripped her of her leadership position. >> the liz cheneys of the world, we've got to get rid of them. >> reporter: trump basically declared cheney a traitor because she voted to impeach him. >> she has gone crazy. people of wyoming are going to tell her, liz, you're fired, get out of here! get out of here! [ cheers ] >> reporter: even came to wyoming to campaign against her. >> this is the most important election that we have, right here, right here, state of wyoming. this is a symbol. gotta win, you gotta win. otherwise it's going to be a terrible thing for our country. >> reporter: trump's candidate,

harriet haggerman, election denier and proponent of the big lie, won decisively. >> today, wyoming has spoken. [ cheers ] >> reporter: for months cheney has been behind in the polls. her father, the former vice president and republican icon dick cheney, steadfastly by her side, blasting trump in this campaign ad. >> there has never been an threat to our republic than - donald trump. >> reporter: i spoke with the younger cheney in late june. her first interview since the january 6th hearings began. she was not backing away from her criticism of trump. do you have any doubt that he broke the law, that he is guilty of criminal violations? >> there's no question. a man as dangerous as donald trump can absolutely never be anywhere near the oval office ever again. >> reporter: but wyoming remains trump country. he won 70% of the vote here in 2020, more than any other state. >> president trump was an excellent president for the

united states of america, and omg.cially for the state of >>ephagerman capitalized on the frustration within trump's base. >> we're fed up with the january who think that they can gaslight us and we're fed up with liz cheney. >> it's amazing to me how liz cheney went from political royalty in the republican party to a pariah. that is indicative of how drastically the republican party has changed in just a few years. >> reporter: trump has made it his personal mission to get vengeance on the house republicans who voted to impeach him. four decided to retire rather than seek re-election. and four more, including cheney, have lost their primaries to trump-backed challengers. >> it's a revenge tour. and it's a tour that i think he's been relatively successful on, given his track record. >> reporter: hagerman was once a trump skeptic and cheney supporter herself. but now -- >> i will do everything in my

power to make america great again, again. [ cheers ] >> reporter: she's a trump loyalist and rewarded with his endorsement. >> wyoming deserves a congresswoman who stands up for you and your values, not one who spends all of her time putting you down, going after your president in the most vicious way possible. >> reporter: hagerman is a straunch defender of trump, echoing his false claims of election fraud. >> we have serious questions about the 2020 election. >> reporter: trump's baseless claims that there was rampant voeder fraud and cheating at the ballot box have been repeatedly proven false. still, according to abc news partner fivethirtyeight, there are still at least 170 republican senate, house, governor, attorney general, or secretary of state nominees who have won their primaries running on an "election denier" platform. an additional 57 republican nominees have questioned the election's legitimacy, but

stopped short of fully denying it. some in wyoming were hoping cheney could eke out a victory with the support of an unlikely group, democrats who cheney urged to vote for her. allie noel man is a lifelong democrat who switched her party registration and has encouraged her friends to do the same. >> what i love about liz cheney is that she is willing to stand up for democracy, right? i don't necessarily agree with her on a lot of issues. but on this one incredibly important topic, i really do. >> reporter: nolan says she's personally convinced about 200 democrats to change party registration this year, which voters can do up until election day, the process just takes minutes. >> i'm kind of surprised more people don't play this game, if you will. but to be able to vote for the person that most aligns with your values, whatever party it is, i feel like is really important. i think it's a sign of the times. to think that the congresswoman could be the darling of democrats in a state like wyoming, where she is really a

staunch conservative. >> reporter: cheney voted with the former president 92.9% of the time in her congressional career on issues like immigration and abortion, though her stance has changed on same-sex marriage after feuding with her younger sister, who came out as gay. >> she is not a moderate in any way, shape or form. she is still a cheney. there are going to be positions when it comes to the economy, when it comes to climate change, when it comes to abortion, when it comes to gun rights, where she is just not going to be in the same miss as many democratic voters. >> reporter: but cheney's conservative viewpoints didn't dissuade democrats like alli. >> with people like me, her work on the january 6th committee has really made us take a different look at her. and understand that she is playing from a place of integrity. that she is more thoughtful and flexible than i thought. >> reporter: cheney has a little over four months left in her term during which she'll wrap up the investigation into january

6th. her political future is unclear, but now her national star has risen. a presidential run is not out of the question. >> i would suspect that even with a loss in her primary, that that is not the last we will see of liz cheney. i suspect she's preparing to run for president, potentially in 2024, where she can continue to be a voice of reason, a voice of conscience for the republican party, and a thorn in the side of former president trump if he decides to run again. >> reporter: soon to be out of office, but not silenced. >> this is a fight for all of us together. i'm a conservative republican. i believe deeply in the principles and the ideals on which my party was founded. i love its history, and i love what our party has stood for. but i love my country more. so i ask you tonight to join me as we leave here. let us resolve that we will stant together, republicans, democrats, and independents, against those who would destroy

our republic. >> our thanks to jon. up next, she's the sole survivor of a deadly lightning strike just outside the white house. now she shares her emotional story. evere ulcerative colitis persists... put it in check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when uc got unpredictable,... i got rapid symptom relief with rinvoq. check. when uc held me back... i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when uc got the upper hand... rinvoq helped visibly repair the colon lining. check. rapid symptom relief. lasting, steroid-free remission. and a chance to visibly repair the colon lining. check. check. and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin cancer; death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. people 50 and older... with at least 1 heart disease risk factor have higher risks. don't take if allergic to rinvoq...

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feel good about being the only one. >> reporter: just steps from the symbl of america's greatness, the full force of nature's power was unleashed. >> i was just surprised to learn that i was struck at all. i didn't really fully comprehend it at first. >> reporter: six lightning bolts strike within half a second, as seen in this footage, hitting four people, including amber escordero costasetas. she was in lafayette square doing fund-raiser work, waiting for her husband to pick her up for dinner to celebrate her 28th birthday. >> it was really hot, i think the heat index 103. it was 96 with high humidity. i did not anticipate rain or a storm or anything. >> reporter: as the storm rolled in, she and three strangers took shelter under a tree. >> i always thought a tree, if it were hitly lightning, would catch on fire and you'd run from the fire. >> reporter: there was no time. killing brooks lamb bear ton, in

town on business, along with james and donna mueller, celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary. amber, the sole 75 survivor. >> i don't know why i survived. i just don't think it's fair. >> reporter: the last thing she remembers that day is talking to that couple. >> i remember talking to them about wisconsin, because we went there for a family reunion. and i remember asking them how their time was out here. i just hoped i didn't stop them to talk. i hope they weren't there because of me. >> reporter: on average, lightning kills about 23 people each year in the u.s. only about 10% of people struck by lightning die, leaving the other 90% with various degrees of disability. amber says her heart actually stopped for a moment. >> i knew. i died.

and came back, i think. i don't think i had a heartbeat r some time. >> reporter: suffering second-degree burns along the left side of her body, still unable to feel her legs. >> they don't know how long my recovery will be. the nerve damage is a big part of it. then the pt. just getting my body back to doing the motions that we naturally do. >> reporter: amber now faced with adjusting to life with a new normal. >> i forget that i can't just get up and do stuff. i have to use a walker, for example. you know. you wake and up you think that you can just get up and go and brush your teeth or get a cup of coffee, and i can't. >> reporter: missing the work she was so passionate about, the job that led her to being outside the white house that fateful day. >> every day that i went to work, i was excited to go. every time i had to go home, i didn't want to leave. i get to help people find their inner activist and bridge them to the work they want to see in the world. not getting to do that every day is probably more painful than

the burns. >> reporter: one thing amber thinks may have helped her that day, her shoes. >> i was wearing my platform sandal doc martens that have humongous rubber soles. they definitely didn't save my life, but i definitely think that it contributed to potentially less of a burn. >> reporter: today she keeps those shoes close. so close, she wore them to our interview. amber thought, like so many of us, that standing near a tree would be safer. but the opposite occurs. trees can be conduits for electricity. the lightning able to run through them and across the ground. >> i didn't realize that you could be struck through your feet. i didn't believe it at first. i think it took quite a few times for them to fully get me to understand that it was literally that lightning went through my body. >> reporter: amber knows she's lucky to be alive and to be able to reconnect with the two people she says saved her life. nolan haggard and jesse vonte traveled from texas to d.c. to

meet amber for the first time. the emergency room nurses immediately performed cpr alongside secret service agents. >> i worked on all three other people. and she worked on you and a couple of others. because we had to move around. >> i got your first pulse back. i remember holding your hand and you gripping it really tight. and you lost your pulse again. >> if it weren't for you guys, i wouldn't be here. i owe you everything. i'm so grateful for your guys. >> reporter: she's learned not to take even the smallest things for granted. >> you don't know when your last day might be. might get struck by lightning. so just do everything with 100% of your heart. and if you're not doing something you love right now, figure out what that thing is that you love and do it. because time is fleeting. >> words we can all live by. up next, faster than the speed of sound. why the future of flight may soon be supersonic.

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♪ finally tonight, a major announcement about the future of flight. you want to make sure seat backs are up and tray tables are stowed. here's abc's marcus moore. >> reporter: tonight, american airlines announcing some of its future planes could travel faster than the speed of sound. >> the world's fastest airliner. >> reporter: the airline saying it's planning to buy as many as 20 supersonic jets. american says they'll fly as fast as 1,300 miles per hour. boom, the company that plans to build the supersonic jets, says a trip from new york to london

would take about 3 1/2 hours. the aircraft is still in the prototype stage, and boom is still searching for a do to make the engine. according to the associated press, boom is talking with rolls-royce and others. the last time people could fly at supersonic speeds on a commercial flight, 2003, the year british airways and air france retired the concorde. >> that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night.

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