House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney held on to her leadership role after a contentious, four-hour “family meeting” among GOP lawmakers on the party’s direction in the post-Trump era.
Republicans held a vote after hours of discussion and voted to keep Cheney in her role. Some conservative Republicans who are Trump supporters had sought to oust the Wyoming Republican after she voted to impeach former President Donald Trump last month. The vote was 145-61 in Cheney’s favor.
Cheney refused to apologize for her vote, and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, also a Trump ally, argued on her behalf and told GOP lawmakers he supports her. It was a defining moment for Republicans, who are nervous that the party will be viewed as extreme if it pushes out Cheney, a bedrock conservative, over her impeachment vote.
Trump was charged with inciting an insurrection that led to the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“It was a really good debate,” Rep. Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican, said.
Republicans hoped the meeting would serve to unify the conference after weeks of building tension over both Cheney and freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, who has, in the past, espoused many conspiracy theories, including one that mass shootings are staged to promote gun control.
Greene is slated to lose her two committee assignments Thursday, when Democrats bring up an unprecedented vote to kick her off the panels. Read more…
