throw someone under the bus
v. phr.— «We have benefited from having him here and I don’t feel any need to throw him under the bus.…He’s gotten pretty good results. He could use some help from his members, who could pay more. He has had some rough times, but you have to look forward.» —“Director Of Bureau Under Fire” by James Lawless Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) Feb. 20, 1995. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Matt from Grand Rapids, Michigan, was puzzled when colleagues kept saying someone had stood up at a wedding, indicating that they’d been a member of the wedding party. The expression stood up in that sense is an Americanism going back about two...
In 1916, a small-town newspaper in Pennsylvania printed a fanciful item about a local gathering with a guest list that included, among others, Miss Ella Vader, Mr. Ray Zor, and other punny names. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...