Former Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter, Elizabeth "Liz" Cheney, rose to her dad's defense Tuesday, saying controversy over the CIA counterterrorism program is being ginned up to provide political cover for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Cheney said Democrats are trying to use CIA Director Leon Panetta's testimony to Congress about a killed, secret proposal to off Al Qaeda operatives after Sept. 11, 2001, for political cover for Pelosi, who accused the CIA of misleading her about the spy agency's enhanced interrogation techniques on terror detainees.

"You have Democrats up on the Hill who are suggesting something that I think they are trying -- they are hoping will cover for Speaker Pelosi," she told FOX News.

"The particular set of activities they are talking about never rose to the level of a program that would have had to be briefed," she added.

The 42-year-old Cheney also indicated she could launch her own run for political office some day.

"It's something I very well may do," she told The Washington Times' "America's Morning News" radio show on Tuesday.

But that run likely won't come any time soon. Cheney, an attorney who worked in the State Department under the Bush administration and been active in Republican politics, said she currently is assisting her father with his memoirs.

"I may down the road, but not planning anything right now," she said in an interview on MSNBC.