A growing number of Republicans are pushing to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from the House GOP leadership team because she supports impeaching President Donald Trump.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told reporters in Washington that the conference should vote on whether to remove Cheney as Republican Conference chair in light of the support.
“I think she’s totally wrong,“ Jordan said. ”We ought to have a second vote.”
Reps. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday said in a joint statement that Cheney failed to consult with fellow Republicans before announcing publicly her support for impeachment.
In doing so, she “failed to abide by the spirit of the rules of the Republican Conference, and ignored the preferences of Republican voters,” they said, adding: “She is weakening our conference at a key moment for personal political gain and is unfit to lead. She must step down as Conference Chair.”
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) also called for Cheney to resign.
Cheney said in response, according to a spokesman: “I’m not going anywhere. This is a vote of conscience. It’s one where there are different views in our conference.”
“But our nation is facing an unprecedented, since the civil war, constitutional crisis. That’s what we need to be focused on. That’s where our efforts and attention need to be,” she added.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) didn’t respond to request for comment.
The vast majority of Republican voters voted for Trump and his support inside the party remains strong. But Democrats have found a handful of Republicans willing to side with them to impeach Trump a second time.
No Republicans voted for impeaching Trump last year.
Cheney said Tuesday that Trump “summoned” the protesters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“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. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution. I will vote to impeach the President,” she said.
Democrats spoke favorably of the statement on the House floor Wednesday.
Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) called it “powerful” while House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) named her seven times during a speech calling for support for the impeachment.
“This is not, as Liz Cheney said, just some action,” Hoyer said. “She characterized it as the biggest betrayal of any president of the United States in our history.”
