Embattled House GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney appears ready to fight to hang on to her leadership post, even though she could be replaced as the No. 3 Republican as early as next week.
“Liz will have more to say in the coming days,” Cheney’s spokesman Jeremy Adler told the Washington Examiner. “This moment is about much more than a House leadership fight.”
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Cheney has positioned herself as a leader of the faction of Republicans who want to steer the party away from former President Donald Trump, who she voted to impeach on the charge of inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
But House Republicans say Cheney’s leadership problems extend well beyond her views about Trump and that she should be replaced with a GOP lawmaker who is more aligned with the party agenda.
Cheney’s anti-Trump stance, combined with some of her views on domestic and foreign policy, have put her at odds with many in the House Republican Conference, some lawmakers told the Washington Examiner.
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise are now rallying behind replacing Cheney with New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik as early as next week, when lawmakers return from a district work period.
Stefanik began making calls this week to fellow lawmakers, looking to shore up support, and she received the public endorsement of Scalise, a Louisiana Republican and Trump ally.
“She strikes a pretty good balance,” of representing GOP viewpoints, a Republican leadership source told the Washington Examiner.
Cheney is not backing down in her fight to stop Trump from leading the party and insists the battle is about Trump and his belief that the 2020 election was stolen from him, as well as his statements and actions Cheney and others believe provoked the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
Trump, Adler said, is attempting “to whitewash” the Capitol riot. “Liz will not do that.”
But Republicans tell the Washington Examiner Cheney’s leadership post has been jeopardized by her views on the GOP agenda.
Cheney trashed a key memo authored by the Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican. The “Working Class Memo” called on the party to broaden their electorate and “hug the agenda that differentiated President Trump in 2016 and supplement it with new, relevant ideas.”
Cheney called the memo “Neo-Marxist.”
A Republican leadership source said Cheney “went out of her way to slam the memo,” despite broad input from the RSC, which is the largest voting faction in the House GOP conference.
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“She’s at odds with Republicans on foreign and domestic policy issues,” the Republican aide said.
