After repeatedly sounding off against former President Donald Trump, including leading the small group of House Republicans who voted to impeach him earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) is facing heightened pressure to resign from her party leadership post.
The latest calls for her ouster as House GOP conference chair come in the wake of her public assertion that Trump should not play any future role in the party, including a planned address at the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference.
“I consider Liz a friend”
Cheney previously came under intraparty fire for voting to impeach Trump and blaming him for playing a role in inciting the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill.
In subsequent weeks, she survived a secret vote to determine whether she should retain the leadership position. She was, however, censured by multiple Republican groups in her home state.
Now, a pair of fellow GOP lawmakers are mounting a campaign to see her replaced as conference chair.
“I consider Liz a friend, and I stood on the floor with the conference defending her right to defend herself and taking what she described was a vote of conscience,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX). “I believe that’s important, and so I did so. Yesterday, Liz forfeited a right to be chair of the Republican conference.”
He went on to argue that Cheney “cannot stand up and make a statement that is so completely out of step with the Republican conference and where the American people who support President Trump are” while still maintaining an influential leadership role within the GOP.
“If she has any sense of shame”
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) made similar remarks on Thursday.
“That was one of the most outrageous statements, but it’s consistent with at least four other statements she’s made in the last few weeks,” he said. “As you know, some of us in this group led a charge to remove Ms. Cheney as the chairwoman leader of the Republican conference. I do not believe she is able to carry that out any further.”
Biggs went on to accuse Cheney of being “absolutely devoid of any kind of political reading of what’s going on” inside of her own party.
“My guess is there’s probably no room in the party for somebody who takes the positions that Ms. Cheney does and that makes the accusations that she does,” the Texas Republican added. “She should step down — if she has any sense of shame, she would step down.”
Throughout it all, however, Cheney has maintained a defiant attitude. Following the Wyoming Republican Party’s decision to censure her earlier this month, she said: “The oath that I took to the Constitution compelled me to vote for impeachment. And it doesn’t bend to partisanship, it doesn’t bend to political pressure. It’s the most important oath that we take.”
The post ‘She should step down’: Cheney faces mounting GOP calls to resign as House conference chair first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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