House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy dismissed assertions that Republicans are divided due to late-term actions related to former President Donald Trump.
McCarthy, a California Republican, told reporters Thursday that efforts to block electors for President Biden on Jan. 6 and the Capitol siege that followed haven’t driven wedges between GOP lawmakers. Nor has the Jan. 13 impeachment vote of Trump, in which 10 House Republicans voted against the then-president.
“This is the same leadership team with the ranking members and others who came five seats away from winning the majority, and everybody in America thought we were going to lose 20 seats,” McCarthy said. “Yes, we allow differences of opinion inside our conference. They’re welcome.”
McCarthy said House Republicans would try to work on differences internally.
“At the end of the day, we will unify because our policies are right, which will unify us around,” he said. “We have growing pains. Yes, we will. But we will do it in our private manner, have a conference that we hold every time. We will have it next week.”
Just one day after Democrats took power in both congressional chambers and the White House, House Republicans are in the midst of soothing over in-fighting within their own ranks.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming stirred up a firestorm among at least half of the GOP conference after she voted to impeach Trump, along with nine other Republican members. Following her vote, a petition circulated among GOP House members demanding her resignation.
“There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” Cheney said about her vote for the single impeachment article put forward by House Democrats, targeting Trump’s rhetorical role in the Jan. 6 Capitol siege.
McCarthy reiterated Thursday he did not support ousting Cheney from leadership. McCarthy also said Trump should continue his involvement in the Republican Party.
“Going forward, every former president still has a role within their party. For the time basis, this president brought a lot of great success with him. He brought people to the party that hadn’t been involved before. And he should continue to engage in that,” he said.
