Vice President Dick Cheney warned Saturday that the most serious threat the United States faces is the possibility of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons.

“The biggest danger we face today is to have nuclear weapons fall into the hands of terrorists,” Cheney said in his speech for House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s fundraising event before 2,500 people at the Convocation Center.

Al-Qaida terrorists are determined to destroy the United States and must be dealt with, Cheney said. He made similar statements in a victory rally speech on Tuesday in Clarksville, Va.

“The most important result thus far – and a very important one – is that the black-market network that supplied nuclear weapons technology to Libya, as well as to Iran and North Korea, has been shut down,” Cheney said in Virginia. “The world’s worst source of nuclear proliferation is out of business, and we are all safer as a result.”

Cheney has also made similar statements at other campaign events during the past couple weeks.

Earlier on Saturday, Hastert said Al-Qaida may try to influence the Nov. 2 presidential election in favor of Democratic nominee John Kerry.

“I’d think they’d be more apt to go with someone who would file a lawsuit with the World Court or something rather than respond with troops,” Hastert said.

Hastert said he foresees Al-Qaida influencing the election like they have in other foreign elections.

“I’m saying that they’ll try to influence this election just like they did in Spain,” Hastert said.

In March, train bombings that killed 191 people in Madrid, Spain were believed to influence the election in favor of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who opposed the war in Iraq and pulled out Spanish troops just after being elected.