House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday in conversation caught on a hot mike that he’s “lost confidence” in fellow GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, Axios reported.
“I think she’s got real problems,” McCarthy said in apparent cross-talk with Steve Doocy off-air ahead of a live “Fox and Friends” interview. “I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence.”
McCarthy’s remarks then seemed to describe how Cheney could be removed from her role as House conference chair, saying “Well, someone just has to bring a motion, but I assume that will probably take place.”
During the almost six-minute on-air interview, McCarthy told Doocy that he had heard members concerned about Cheney’s ability to continue her position as a party leader.
Cheney spokesperson Jeremy Adler said in response to McCarthy’s aired Fox interview that “This is about whether the Republican Party is going to perpetuate lies about the 2020 election and attempt to whitewash what happened on January 6. Liz will not do that. That is the issue.”
Top Republicans told Axios last week that Cheney, who was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump after the Capitol riot, could be removed within a month due to her continued criticism of him.
This despite the House Republican conference voting 145-61 in a secret ballot in February, after her impeachment vote, in favor of Cheney keeping her position as House conference chair.
But since that time, Cheney has increasingly been at odds with other top House Republicans about whether the former president should be a part of the party’s future.
Earlier this week, after former President Donald Trump repeated his claims that he actually won the 2020 presidential election, Cheney tweeted 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.”
House Whip Steve Scalise told Axios that “This idea that you just disregard President Trump is not where we are, and, frankly, he has a lot to offer still.”
However, showing divide in the GOP over the issue, Rep. Anthony Gonzalez , who also voted to impeach Trump, told The Hill last week that “If a prerequisite for leading our conference is continuing to lie to our voters, then Liz is not the best fit Liz isn’t going to lie to people.”
He added that “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.”
Source: Newmax
