A Majority Of House GOPers Want To Oust Cheney From Leadership After Impeachment Vote

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 21: Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) wears a mask during a news with other Republican members of the House of Representatives at the US Capitol on July 21, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Liz Cheney
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 21: U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) wears a mask during a news conference with other Republican members of the House of Representatives at the Capitol on July 21, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by S... WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 21: U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) wears a mask during a news conference with other Republican members of the House of Representatives at the Capitol on July 21, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) is staring down just over a majority of House Republicans who support toppling the No. 3 House Republican from leadership after she voted to impeach now-former President Trump for inciting a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month. 

According to reporting from Politico, at least 107 House Republicans have communicated to the leaders of that effort that they would support removing Cheney from leadership on a secret ballot, while others have threatened boycotting future conference meetings if she remains in power. 

The intensifying campaign against Cheney, who called her decision to impeach Trump a “vote of conscience,” signals that Trump’s ideological stronghold on the party continues to echo in the chamber since his departure from office on Wednesday.

Multiple GOP sources involved in the effort told the publication that after voting to impeach Trump last week, the highest-ranking woman in the House GOP put herself in hot water — risking not only her leadership but also facing a primary challenge from state Sen. Anthony Bouchard, and angering some of her Wyoming constituents. A local county Republican Party in Wyoming unanimously agreed to censure Cheney last weekend over her impeachment vote. The Wyoming GOP had previously put out a statement that essentially combed the party’s inbox and relayed angry messages aimed at Cheney after her support for impeaching Trump.

The news of a growing revolt against Cheney comes after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) said they would continue to support Cheney as chair, even as loyalists to former President Trump in the lower chamber called for her removal as conference chair.

According to Politico, at least a dozen House Republicans expressed further frustrations with Cheney, who is in charge of the party’s messaging efforts, for providing fodder to Democrats a day before the impeachment trial, giving them ample time to use her statements, while also sheltering the few Republicans who stood behind her in voting to impeach the now former president. 

Cheney, for her part, seems to be brushing off the brouhaha.

“We’re going to have these discussions inside the conference. We have differences of opinion about a whole range of issues, including about this one,” Cheney said Thursday on Fox News. “I anticipate and am confident that we will be united as a conference going forward.”

Latest News
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: