Top Republicans are split on President Trump’s first post-presidential appearance at a key meeting of conservatives in Florida this week.
“I don’t believe he should be playing a role in the future of the party,” House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney told reporters Wednesday.
Trump is slated to speak at the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, also known as CPAC, which is meeting in Orlando between Thursday and Sunday.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican and Trump ally, did not hesitate when a reporter asked whether Trump should be speaking at CPAC.
“Yes, he should,” McCarthy said.
It will be Trump’s first major address since leaving office on Jan. 20. The House impeached Trump last month on the charge of inciting an insurrection that led to the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by throngs of his supporters. The Senate acquitted Trump last week, but all Democrats and seven Republicans voted guilty.
Cheney, who voted along with nine other Republicans and all Democrats to impeach Trump on Jan. 13, survived a recent attempt by pro-Trump conservatives in her conference to oust her from the leadership team.
McCarthy said that he backs the Wyoming Republican despite their differences about Trump and his role in the party.
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“I’ve been clear about my views about President Trump,” Cheney said, referencing the role that she believed he played in provoking the Jan. 6 attack.
Cheney is decidedly in the minority of Republican lawmakers who want Trump to disappear. Her closest Senate analogue is Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, who has frequently clashed with Trump and twice voted to convict him in impeachment trials.
But even Romney says the 2024 Republican nomination is Trump’s for the asking.
“I don’t know if he’ll run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I’m pretty sure he will win the nomination,” Romney said Monday.
