House Republicans Oust Rep. Liz Cheney from Leadership
WASHINGTON, D.C. — After her refusal to embrace the Big Lie and her condemnation of the Capitol riot, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) was voted out of her House leadership position on Wednesday by her Republican colleagues who felt her insufficient loyalty to Donald Trump made her unfit to lead the party. Cheney served as the House Republican Conference Chair and was the third highest-ranking Republican in the House.
In a speech before the vote on Wednesday, colleagues booed Cheney as she warned Republicans that their embrace of the Big Lie would spell disaster for their party and for the country. “Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar,” she said. “I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president’s crusade to undermine our democracy.”
Cheney will likely be replaced as Conference chair by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a Trump loyalist. However, some Republicans are worried she is not sufficiently conservative and are delaying her appointment. If she wins the caucus’ election, the top three ranking Republicans in the House will all be promoters of election fraud conspiracies who voted not to certify the results of Joe Biden’s victory: Stefanik, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.).