Liz Cheney vote live updates: Republicans poised to oust her from leadership position
Liz Cheney #LizCheney
House Republicans are poised to remove Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from her House GOP leadership position following her criticism of former President Donald Trump and his continued attacks on the 2020 election.
Cheney, who has branded herself as an “unapologetic conservative,” speaking on the House floor Tuesday night, delivered a searing indictment of House GOP leaders seeking to expel her from their ranks after she voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar,” Cheney said in a near-empty chamber after several conservative colleagues railed against “cancel culture.” “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.”
House Republicans can unseat her with a simple majority of their members, and are easily expected to clear that threshold in a secret ballot vote at a conference-wide meeting Wednesday morning.
May 12, 2021
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy arrived on Capitol Hill before 9 a.m. Wednesday when House Republicans are scheduled to meet behind closed doors to decide whether to remove Liz Cheney from her leadership post via secret ballot.
McCarthy announced the vote to recall Cheney on Monday, after he told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” he supported New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, who has supported the “big lie” about the election, for the No. 3 House Republican position.
House Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who joined Cheney and eight other House Republicans in voting to impeach Trump, has criticized McCarthy in recent days as being hypocritical, pointing to how McCarthy gave a floor speech in January also tying Trump to the Capitol attack before traveling to Mar-a-Lago to see the former president weeks later.