Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy scheduled a vote for Wednesday to replace Liz Cheney as GOP Conference chair.
Cheney is being challenged by Republicans for speaking out against Donald Trump and his claims about the 2020 presidential election being rigged.
In a letter to Republican House members Monday, McCarthy wrote, “Having heard from so many of you in recent days, it’s clear that we need to make a change. As such, you should anticipate a vote on recalling the Conference Chair this Wednesday.”
Representative Elise Stefanik, a Trump supporter, is being endorsed as Cheney’s replacement.
“All members are elected to represent their constituents as they see fit,” McCarthy said. “But our leadership team cannot afford to be distracted from the important work we were elected to do and the shared goals we hope to achieve. The stakes are too high to come up short. I trust you agree.”
In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Cheney called out McCarthy for changing his stance on Trump, saying he “left no doubt” about Trump’s guilt in his public remarks days after Jan. 6.
“On the floor of the House on Jan. 13, McCarthy said: ‘The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.’ Now, McCarthy has changed his story,” she wrote.
“The Republican Party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution,” wrote Cheney. “In the immediate wake of the violence of Jan. 6, almost all of us knew the gravity and the cause of what had just happened, we had witnessed it firsthand.”
