House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., could be ousted from her leadership post by the end of the month, according to one Republican congressman due to her repeated condemnation of former President Donald Trump.
The congresswoman, a longtime critic of Trump’s, recently told Punchbowl News that “anybody who wants to get in that race [against her] and who wants to do it on the basis of debating me about whether or not President Trump should have been impeached, I’ll have that debate every day of the week.”
Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, tweeted on Saturday: “Liz Cheney has promised she will campaign on impeaching Trump ‘every day of the week.’ Good luck with that, Liz! PREDICTION: she’ll be out of her GOP leadership role by month’s end!”
Cheney tweeted on Monday that “The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”
Axios reports that the House GOP conference held a secret ballot last February to see if Cheney should continue in her current role, a vote that she won 145-61. However, she has continued to clash with House GOP leaders, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., over Trump’s role in the party going forward.
“This idea that you just disregard President Trump is not where we are, and, frankly, he has a lot to offer still,” Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Axios last week.
“If a prerequisite for leading our conference is continuing to lie to our voters, then Liz is not the best fit,” Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio, told The Hill, adding, “Liz isn’t going to lie to people. Liz is going to say what she believes. She’s going to stand on principle. And if that’s going to be distracting for folks, she’s not the best fit. I wish that weren’t the case.”
Last month, Cheney broke with GOP leaders when she told reporters during a GOP retreat in Orlando, Florida that “What happened on Jan. 6 is unprecedented in our history, and I think that it’s very important that the commission be able to focus on that.”
McCarthy had previously pushed to broaden the scope of the inquiry to include other incidents of politically-motivated violence.
“I’m very concerned, as all my colleagues are, about the violence that we saw, the [Black Lives Matter], the antifa violence last summer. I think that’s a different set of issues, a different set of problems and a different set of solutions,” she continued. “And so I think it’s very important that the Jan. 6 commission stays focused on what happened on Jan. 6, and what led to that day.”
Cheney also dismissed the idea that Trump remains one of the GOP’s leaders, saying, “I think right now, the Republican Party is headed by Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy in the House. I think our elected leaders, you know, are the ones who are in charge of the Republican party. And I think as we look at ’22 and ’24, we’re very much going to be focused on substance and on the issues.”
Source: Newmax
