BREAKING: House Republicans vote to kick Liz Cheney out of leadership



The House Republican caucus voted Wednesday to kick Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her GOP conference chairman post.

According to Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the caucus held a voice vote, so no final tally numbers will be known. Kinzinger also said that no replacement had yet been voted on.

Cheney, who served as the No. 3 Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, was a constant critic of former President Donald Trump and his reported role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. She was one of a handful of Republican lawmakers to vote for impeachment in January, which sent her down a path of constant criticism from Trump, fellow House members, including GOP leadership, and the Wyoming Republican Party, which voted to censure her for her impeachment vote.

A slew of primary challengers have thrown their hats in the ring to take on Cheney in her re-election bid.

What's going on?

Cheney blamed Trump for the Jan. 6 violence, claiming he "summoned" the rioters and then "lit the flame of this attack." According to Cheney, "Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the president. The president could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not."

This did not sit well with Trump or many of her fellow Republicans in the U.S. House and in Wyoming, where the state party voted overwhelmingly to censure Cheney in February for "voting to impeach even though the U.S. House didn't offer Trump 'formal hearing or due process,'" the Associated Press reported.

Wednesday's vote was the second time the House GOP held a vote on whether to keep Cheney as conference chairman. In early February, House Republicans voted 145-61 to keep Cheney in her leadership role in a secret ballot.

Kinzinger, a Cheney supporter who also voted for impeachment, told reporters following Wednesday's vote that though Cheney seemed to have a significant number of supporters, GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) insisted that there be a voice vote in the name of "unity" and to avoid a final vote count.

Cheney spoke to reporters after the vote and said that the GOP needs to have people in leadership who will stand against what she calls President Trump's "big lie" that the 2020 election was stolen.

Leading Republicans have been touting liberal New York Rep. Elise Stefanik as a replacement for Cheney.

Horowitz: Replacing Liz Cheney with Elise Stefanik is the whole problem with the GOP



Liz Cheney is not a bug, but a feature of the GOP. She is not an exception, but the rule. The exceptions are those few members who actually fight for the major tenets of the party's platform in a meaningful way. Unfortunately, Cheney is well within the mainstream of the party on so many issues except for her open defiance of Trump. As such, when left to their own devices, the GOP will replace her with someone like Elise Stefanik … who is even more liberal.

The beauty of the Democratic Party is that Democrats appoint leaders and committee chairs and nominate people to high offices who not only believe in their party's agenda to the core, but are their most vociferous fighters. Republicans, on the other hand, have their most liberal members in leadership and as committee chairs at the federal and state levels. Their health care chair will be someone who champions government-run health care. Their judiciary chair in a given state legislature will often be someone who supports open borders and is pro-criminal. Thus, the problem with Liz Cheney as House conference chair is not an aberration, but the general rule.

The good news is that conservatives are finally willing to eject Republicans from leadership positions who are out of step with our values. Certainly, for Cheney to support impeaching Trump under the notion that he is criminally responsible for what happened on January 6 should make her unfit to lead the conference. But what about a Republican who believes we need to be in Afghanistan forever? What about supporting COVID fascism, open borders, and the transgender agenda? Or, in the case of Cheney, let's not forget that she supported candidates against conservative members like Thomas Massie. In fact, Cheney's tweet praising Fauci at a time when he destroyed our civilization is more offensive to me than even her vote for impeachment:

Dr. Fauci is one of the finest public servants we have ever had. He is not a partisan. His only interest is saving… https://t.co/iHiIxEDl9q

— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) 1589331291.0

Dick Cheney says WEAR A MASK. #realmenwearmasks https://t.co/iBfVoa7ypL

— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) 1593198154.0

In other words, we should not only focus on who kisses up to Trump as a person but who reflects the agenda for which the Republican voters sent Trump himself to the presidency. If we internalize that message, we'd understand that Elise Stefanik is not who we want to replace Cheney. Why should we have to settle on one of two bad choices?

Elise Stefanik, who now has the backing of Trump to replace Cheney as conference chair, is so liberal she even voted against the Trump tax cuts that were supported by even the typical liberal Republicans. Unlike Cheney, she has cozied up to Trump as a person, but that should not be our priority headed forward. She has co-sponsored "Dream" amnesty and voted for Big Agriculture amnesty. She was even one of 14 Republicans who voted to terminate Trump's emergency declaration at the border and was one of 11 Republicans who voted to override his funding of the border wall!

Stefanik is terrible on social issues. She was one of just eight Republicans who voted for the original "Equality Act" codifying transgenderism into civil rights, now promoted by Biden and Pelosi. Stefanik has been a consistent supporter of the transgender agenda. She also supported a local D.C. bill that would have forced pro-life groups to pay for abortions. In 2015, Congress had an opportunity to nullify the D.C. municipal law when Republicans were in the majority, but she voted against it.

Even on some of the energy issues that tend to unite both wings of the party, Stefanik joined with Democrats. She joined just two other Republicans in voting for the Climate Action Now Act, which would have forced Trump to stay in the Paris climate accord, and voted to block Trump's plan to drill for oil in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Indeed, the Liz Cheney problem extends to many Republicans, but even more so to Elise Stefanik. Why is it that you can be a liberal on immigration, social issues, taxes, and energy, yet as long as you praise Trump, you are fit to lead the party that is supposed to fight against those ideals?

This is the broader problem within the party. Republicans control 31 state legislatures, 19 of them with supermajorities. Yet it's so hard to pass conservative legislation because almost all the leaders and committee chairs are liberal on the issues that matter. Ditto for most Republican governors.

The dirty little secret is that there are Liz Cheneys in the majority of leadership positions in the GOP across the country. The only difference is that, in some way, Cheney is at least principled enough to stand by her views publicly, whereas the others remain undocumented Democrats and escape the ire of the base voters.

In reality, the fight over Liz Cheney should be a wake-up call to conservatives to make the upcoming primaries truly the most important election of our lifetime, especially at the state level where these issues matter most. Our republic will not rise or fall based on who is the third-ranking member of the GOP conference in an irremediably broken Congress. However, our future will depend on creating constitutional sanctuaries in red states, with leaders who actually represent our values. That begins with understanding where we went wrong. We didn't just appoint GOP leaders who opposed us on style and personality, but on the core values that matter at any given time.

In other words, many more Republicans in every red state need to be given the Liz Cheney treatment.

Meghan McCain defends Liz Cheney in fiery tirade, warns GOP of dire consequences if she's ousted



Meghan McCain offered a fiery tirade in defense of Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and warned of dire consequences if the party ousted her from leadership.

McCain made the comments during Wednesday's episode of The View when asked to comment about the loss of support for Cheney from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other Republicans.

"What's going on is Liz Cheney, who was already, by the way, voted in January to stay in her position and overwhelmingly had support to stay when they tried to oust her before, and what's happening it's very clear, and I'm gonna be a little crass, they're shivving her for her going on television multiple times and saying that the election wasn't stolen, and for refusing to debase herself to Cheeto Jesus," McCain said, referring to a common insulting nickname for former President Donald Trump.

"I don't understand what's going on, I have spent the past five years of my life trying to accept, understand, and include the MAGA base of this party," she continued. "I think it is Kafkaesque to try and spin this in a way that this is about anything else but her not supporting President Trump."

McCain pointed to the four Senate seats losses for the GOP in the 2020 election as proof that betting on Trump was the wrong course of action for the future of the party.

"We are going to bloodlet the party from women like me, college-educated women that lost you the election in the first place. I don't understand it, it's the most asinine politics I've seen in a really, really long time, in a cacophony of asinine politics," she added.

"I feel very defensive of Liz Cheney, and if you do this, which it looks like they're gonna do, I promise you there will be consequences, one way or another, there's gonna be consequences," McCain said.

"So go ahead, go ahead in this sausage fest of MAGA up on Capitol Hill, pull her out and put another woman in who will do and say anything you want for President Trump: 'The election wasn't stolen, he is Jesus, it's only Trumpism going forward' — see where this lands us in midterms," McCain concluded.

"I'm absolutely furious," she said.

Cheney defended herself on Tuesday in an op-ed in the Washington Post where she warned Republicans against supporting the "cult of personality" around Trump. Allies of McCarthy have said that they're ready to vote against Cheney and remove her from the leadership of the party by the end of May.

Here's the video of her comments:

Rep. McCarthy Slams Rep. Cheney On Hot Mic | The Viewwww.youtube.com

Kevin McCarthy allies say Republicans are fed up with Liz Cheney and will oust her from leadership by end of the month



Allies of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that enough Republicans are fed up with Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and she will likely lose her leadership position by the end of the month.

"There is no way that Liz will be conference chair by month's end," a McCarthy ally told The Hill on Monday.

"When there is a vote, it won't be a long conference," they added, "it will be fast. Everyone knows the outcome."

Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House, has been at odds with the wing of the Republican Party that enthusiastically supports former President Donald Trump. She is one of the most vocal critics of the former president and his claims of a fraudulent election. She also was one of only 10 Republicans to vote for the second impeachment of Trump over the charge of incitement of insurrection in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

More recently, she issued a strong stand against Trump's continued voter fraud claims.

The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their bac… https://t.co/kMmjACP0xg
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) 1620052062.0

"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," tweeted Cheney on Monday.

Another McCarthy ally told The Hill that Cheney is upsetting many members of the party.

"This is a broad range of lawmakers who have had it with her," the other source said to The Hill. "She's a liability, and McCarthy's as fed up as the rest of us that she is focused on the past rather than winning back the House."

The Hill reported that those frustrated with Cheney are upset that she keeps challenging McCarthy as well.

The sentiment that Cheney was on her way out of leadership was echoed by Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas on Saturday.

Liz Cheney has promised she will campaign on impeaching Trump 'every day of the week.'Good luck with that, Liz!… https://t.co/Waq4DKX05A
— Lance Gooden (@Lancegooden) 1619888646.0

"PREDICTION: she'll be out of her GOP leadership role by month's end!" tweeted Gooden.

Trump responded Monday to Cheney's tweet with a statement mocking her chances of re-election.

"Heartwarming to read new polls on big-shot warmonger Liz Cheney of the great State of Wyoming," Trump said. "She is so low that her only chance would be if vast numbers of people run against her which, hopefully, won't happen. They never liked her much, but I say she'll never run in a Wyoming election again!"

Cheney has already survived one campaign by pro-Trump Republican lawmakers to oust her from leadership in February.

Here's more about the GOP turning on Cheney:

Liz Cheney tipped to be ousted from her Republican leadership position 'within months'www.youtube.com