Liz Cheney REMOVED from House GOP chair in secret ballot after slamming Trump’s hold on Republicans
REP. Liz Cheney lost her post in the House Republican leadership on Wednesday following her months-long feud with Donald Trump over his claims of election fraud.
House Republicans ousted Cheney as House Republican Chair by voice vote in Capitol Hill this morning in a meeting that lasted less than 20 minutes.
Read our Liz Cheney live blog for the very latest news and updates…
She is likely to be replaced by New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has a less conservative voting record than Cheney, though has emerged as a staunch Trump ally.
Speaking to reporters after the vote, Cheney said she is “absolutely committed as I said last night, as I said just now to my colleagues, that we must go forward based on truth.”
“We cannot both embrace the big lie and embrace the constitution. And going forward, the nation needs it. The nation needs a strong Republican party,” she said.
“The nation needs a party that is based upon fundamental principles of conservatism.”
Cheney was also asked whether she is concerned that Donald Trump may retake the White House in 2024.
The Republican said she will “do everything I can to ensure that the former President never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office.”
“We have seen the danger that he continues to provoke with his language,” She continued.
“We have seen his lack of commitment and dedication to the constitution. And I think it’s very important that we make sure whomever we elect is somebody who will be faithful to the constitution.”
Reacting to her ousting, Trump called Cheney a “bitter, horrible human being.”
“I watched her yesterday and realized how bad she is for the Republican Party. She has no personality or anything good having to do with politics or our Country,” Trump blasted in a statement on his website.
“She is a talking point for Democrats, whether that means the Border, the gas lines, inflation, or destroying our economy.
“She is a warmonger whose family stupidly pushed us into the never-ending Middle East Disaster, draining our wealth and depleting our Great Military, the worst decision in our Country’s history,” he added.
“I look forward to soon watching her as a Paid Contributor on CNN or MSDNC!”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also waded into the decision on Cheney, writing on Twitter: “Given a choice between defending American democracy and abandoning all reality and principle for Donald Trump, the GOP has once again chosen Donald Trump.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, even has her political future hung in the balance, Cheney refused to back down and continued to rebuke Trump in a speech on the House floor.
“I am a conservative Republican, and the most conservative of conservative principles is reverence for the rule of law,” she said on Tuesday.
“The election is over. That is the rule of law. That is our constitutional process. Those who refuse to accept the rulings of our courts are at war with the Constitution.”
She urged that the GOP “cannot let the former president drag us backward” or make the party “complicit in his efforts to unravel our democracy.”
“Down that path lies our destruction, and potentially the destruction of our country.”
Her critical remarks of Trump reportedly elicited boos from some of those present in the room, though she later received a standing ovation.
Cheney’s days as the No. 3 ranking GOP leader have appeared numbered since House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and No. 2 leader Steve Scalise joined Trump and other Republicans aligned against her.
Critics said Cheney’s offense wasn’t her views on Trump but her persistence in publicly expressing them, undermining the unity they want party leaders to display as they message in advance of next year’s elections when they hope to win House control.
“It’s not about right or wrong. It’s about the focus” of House Republicans, Scalise said Tuesday.
Many Republicans also agree with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who said the allegiance many GOP voters have to Trump is so intense that the party can’t succeed without him.
Cheney has told Republicans she intends to remain in Congress and seek reelection next year.
Trump has said he’ll find a GOP primary challenger to oppose her.
Cheney arrived in Congress in 2017 with a well-known brand as an old-school conservative, favoring tax cuts, energy development and an assertive use of U.S. power abroad.
By November 2018 she was elected to her current leadership job unopposed and seemed on an ambitious pathway, potentially including runs at becoming speaker, senator, or even president.
She occasionally disagreed with Trump during his presidency over issues like his withdrawal from Syria and attacks on Dr. Anthony Fauci over the pandemic.
However, the feud between her and the former commander in chief erupted at the beginning of this year when Cheney became one of 10 House Republicans to impeach Trump for inciting the January 6 election.
Speaking before the House impeachment vote, Cheney said: “The president of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing.”
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She also said at the time that “there has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
Trump and Cheney have continued to exchange barbs in the months since, with the former president frequently labelling her a “warmonger” as she pushed back against his “dangerous lies” about the 2020 election.
An election on who will replace Cheney will occur at a later date.