Trump defenders seek Cheney’s ouster from House leadership over impeachment vote

Several House Republicans are hammering Rep. Liz Cheney, the party’s third-ranking House leader, calling for her to step down from her leadership position over her vote to impeach President Donald Trump.

The criticism comes as congressional Republicans grapple with Trump becoming the first President to ever be impeached twice after his incitement of a violent mob that stormed the US Capitol last week.

While House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was opposed to impeachment, House GOP leaders did not lobby their members to oppose it, and Cheney told the conference Monday it was a “vote of conscience.”

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a staunch Trump ally on Capitol Hill, told reporters he thinks Cheney should be ousted from her leadership position after she said she’d support impeaching the President.

“I think she’s totally wrong,” he said. “I think there should be a conference and have a second vote on that,” he added.

Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, who helped sow discord in an attempt to overturn the election, also said Cheney should be removed as conference chair. Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona said Tuesday that Cheney should resign from her position.

While Trump defenders like Gosar, Jordan and Biggs have called on Cheney to resign, there have yet to be similar calls from other members of House Republican leadership for the Wyoming Republican to step down from her leadership post.

Cheney was not the only GOP member who supported impeachment. In all, 10 Republicans voted to impeach: Reps. Peter Meijer of Michigan, Fred Upton of Michigan, Tom Rice of South Carolina, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, John Katko of New York, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Dan Newhouse of Washington, David Valadao of California and Cheney.

“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” Cheney said in a statement Tuesday explaining her stance. “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.”

She concluded, “I will vote to impeach the President.”

Cheney, who represents Wyoming and is the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, on Wednesday dismissed pressure for her to resign after coming out in support of impeaching Trump.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Cheney told reporters at the Capitol.

“This is a vote of conscience. It’s one where there are different views in our conference,” she added. “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.”

Unlike the other two top leaders in her conference — McCarthy and House Republican Whip Steve Scalise — Cheney opposed Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, and voted to certify the results last week.