Rep. Liz Cheney says the Republican Party cannot progress if members keep 'embracing' Trump's baseless 2020 Election claims
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- Rep. Liz Cheney called for GOP lawmakers to drop former President Donald Trump's baseless election claims.
- In an interview with "Fox News Sunday," Cheney said Republicans "must stop embracing the Big Lie."
- Cheney was ousted from her House leadership position amid backlash for opposing Trump.
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Rep. Liz Cheney said that in order for the Republican party to progress on the Hill, lawmakers must stop backing former President Donald Trump's baseless claims about the 2020 election.
The Wyoming lawmaker appeared on "Fox News Sunday" days after she was ousted by her fellow Republicans from her position as chair of the House Republican Conference and replaced with New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a staunch Trump ally.
The Wyoming lawmaker has been highly critical of Donald Trump and was one of the few House Republicans who voted to impeach him. When Trump announced to his supporters that he is redefining the term "the Big Lie" after the 2020 presidential election, Cheney said he is "poisoning our democratic system."
"The 2020 presidential election was not stolen," Cheney tweeted earlier this month. "Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system."
Cheney on Sunday repeated the criticism of her Republican colleagues, even confirming to host Chris Wallace that Stefanik and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy are "complicit" in continuing to echo "the big lie."
"I'm not willing to do that," she said.
Cheney said the party is risking future gains in power across the House, Senate, and White House if lawmakers continue to engage with Trump. Moving forward, Cheney said, the GOP "has to be a party based on that foundation of truth."
"I think that it is absolutely the case that we have to have the strongest position possible going forward so we can take back the House, the Senate, and the White House," Cheney said in an interview with "Fox News Sunday." "The issue is we cannot do that if we are embracing the Big Lie; if we are embracing what former president Trump continues to say on a nearly daily basis which is claims that the election was stolen."