The conservative House Freedom Caucus called on Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) to resign after she made comments Wednesday saying former President Donald Trump should not have a leadership role in the GOP moving forward.
“She should step down,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told news outlets on Thursday. Another member, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), asserted Cheney “forfeited her right” to be the chairwoman for the Republican Caucus.
“I also think she is absolutely devoid of any kind of political reading of what’s going on in the party,” he said. “If she [has] any sense of shame, she would step down.”
Trump, as recent polls suggest, remains enormously popular with the Republican Party—with several finding that a significant number of Republican voters would consider joining a Trump-backed political party. Meanwhile, a number of lawmakers who either voted to impeach or convict Trump have been censured in their home states.
Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, was also censured by the Wyoming GOP earlier this month. In response, Cheney said that members of the Wyoming Republican Party “are mistaken” and “have been lied to” about the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.
The Wyoming committee also called on her to “immediately resign” after her vote.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a Trump surrogate in Congress, traveled to Wyoming to rally against Cheney following her vote, and Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, called the rally to add his support. Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski singled Cheney out as the first target for his nascent political action committee.
In the midst of the Republican rift, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) released a memo on Feb. 23 calling on Republicans to drop the internal squabbling and focus on defeating the Democrats in the midterm elections.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Cheney’s office for comment.
