Liz Cheney live updates: Cheney to potential primary challenger: 'Bring it on'
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who was ousted from her role as House Republican Conference chair Wednesday told the Today Show's Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday that she will be a leader "to restore" the Republican Party.
"I intend to be the leader — one of the leaders — in a fight to help to restore our party, in a fight to bring our party back to substance and principle and in a fight to make clear that we won't participate in the really dangerous effort that's under way," she said in a clip of the interview expected to air Thursday.
When asked about a potential primary challenger in 2022, Cheney told Guthrie: "Bring it on."
– Sean Rossman
Nancy Pelosi: Cheney 'a leader of great courage'
Shortly after House Republicans voted to strip Rep. Liz Cheney of her leadership post, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi weighed in.
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"Congresswoman Liz Cheney is a leader of great courage, patriotism and integrity. Today, House Republicans declared that those values are unwelcome in the Republican party," reads a statement issued by Pelosi, D-Calif.
“The Republican denial of the truth presented by Congresswoman Cheney is reflected in their denial of the need to seek the truth in a January 6th commission and to repair the damage of January 6th with a security supplemental immediately."
Cheney's speech:'I will not sit back': In fiery speech, Rep. Liz Cheney calls Trump a 'threat'
Cheney defenders: Vote was too quick and a display of 'fake unity'
Despite the slow buildup, the meeting to determine Rep. Liz Cheney’s fate in House Republican leadership lasted just a few minutes. Cheney spoke briefly as did House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. But it featured no secret ballots or long speeches. And its shortness pleased some members while angering others.
That’s how several GOP lawmakers described the caucus gathering Wednesday morning that ended with the ouster of Cheney as chair of the House GOP Conference.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a Cheney supporter, told USA TODAY afterwards there were “people ready to go to battle for her.” So, having a voice vote rather than a roll call or ballots was a show of “fake unity,” he said.
“There were a lot of people who wanted to defend Liz,” said Kinzinger, adding that people who wanted to defend her didn’t realize they had little opportunity to do so.
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., who also did not support removing Cheney, told reporters there was a question of “whether we could do a recorded vote” but it was not agreed to.
“To me” a debate is what “the Republican Party is all about,” Buck continued. “This discussion is all about disagreement and coming to the best solution … I just think that we are healthier as a party, by having disagreements on issues.”
– Savannah Behrmann and Ledyard King
Democrats react to Liz Cheney ouster from GOP House leadership
Shortly after House Republicans voted to remove conference chair Rep. Liz Cheney from her post over her opposition to former President Donald Trump, Democrats reacted.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans had "reached a new and very dangerous low” in their removal of Cheney, while Rep. Ilhan Omar — a fierce critic of Cheney’s politics — said the reason Republicans are removing her from leadership is "shameful.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., similarly condemned Cheney’s ouster. “Political parties that promote lies and propaganda are setting their countries up for authoritarianism and fascism. The cancellation of Liz Cheney by Trump and the GOP is a flashing red danger sign for our democracy,” he wrote on Twitter.
The chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said Wednesday at a hearing about the Capitol riot Jan. 6 that no member of Congress should be punished for speaking the truth. Maloney quoted Cheney, R-Wyo., that remaining silent and ignoring the lie about whether the election was stolen would only embolden the liar.
“No member of Congress, whether a freshman representative or a House conference chair should face punishment for speaking the truth about what happened that day,” Maloney said. “It is time for the American people and this Congress to look at the events of Jan. 6 and say never again.”
– Matthew Brown and Bart Jansen
Elise Stefanik makes formal push to replace Cheney
Shortly after Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from her position in House Republican leadership Wednesday, Rep. Elise Stefanik announced a formal effort to replace her as the chamber’s third-ranking Republican.
In a two-page letter to House Republicans, Stefanik did not mention Cheney, former President Donald Trump or his election fraud claims. Cheney’s ouster came after she repeatedly slammed the former president’s debunked claims the election was stolen from him.
Instead she railed against the media and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
“I know firsthand the discipline and message it takes to fight back against the biased national media and the entire Democrat and Far-Left infrastructure. I know what it takes to flip a district and grow the Republican Party,” she wrote. “I look forward to working with you as we share our unified conservative vision, regain the Majority, fire Speaker Pelosi once and for all, and fight on behalf of the American people to save our country.”
– Sean Rossman
Cheney’s replacement expected to be chosen Friday
Republicans will reconvene Friday to decide who will replace Rep. Liz Cheney in House GOP leadership, according to several lawmakers leaving the vote.
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., told USA TODAY following Wednesday's vote he expects Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican who formally announced her bid for the House GOP Conference chair post Cheney held, to visit the Freedom Caucus and others tonight to lobby for support.
The Freedom Caucus is comprised of hard-right members of the party who are most loyal to former President Donald Trump.
House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., already has endorsed Stefanik. But some more conservative members are not sold on her yet.
On Thursday, the conference will hold a candidate forum, but several lawmakers were skeptical that someone besides Stefanik would emerge successful.
– Savannah Behrmann and Ledyard King
Elise Stefanik:Who is Elise Stefanik, the congresswoman Trump and Scalise want to replace Liz Cheney in GOP leadership?
What does the chair do?:Liz Cheney has been removed as House GOP Conference chair. What does the chair do?
Liz Cheney spoke before the vote about hewing to “truth”
Rep. Liz Cheney made one last pitch to her fellow Republicans before they voted to oust her as chair of the House GOP Conference on Wednesday.
Speaking to the assembled lawmakers in a closed-door meeting at the Capitol, the Wyoming Republican told reporters assembled outside the meeting room that she reiterated what she has been saying for weeks: “That we must go forward based on truth. We cannot both embrace the ‘big lie’ and embrace the Constitution.”
The “big lie” is what Cheney calls former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the November election was stolen from him due to widespread voter fraud.
Colorado GOP Rep. Ken Buck told reporters after the meeting that Cheney received a standing ovation after she spoke from some members of the caucus.
– Ledyard King and Savannah Behrmann
After vote, Trump says Cheney is 'bad' for Republicans
After House Republicans voted to oust Rep. Liz Cheney from her House GOP leadership role, former President Donald Trump denounced her as "bad for the Republican Party."
“She is a talking point for Democrats, whether that means the Border, the gas lines, inflation, or destroying our economy," he said in a statement issued through his Save America PAC
Prior to the meeting, Trump had exhorted Republicans to demote her from her post as chair of the GOP House Conference.
“The Republicans in the House of Representatives have a great opportunity today to rid themselves of a poor leader, a major Democrat talking point, a warmonger, and a person with absolutely no personality or heart,” Trump said in a statement issued through his PAC. “As a representative of the Great State of Wyoming, Liz Cheney is bad for our Country and bad for herself. Almost everyone in the Republican Party, including 90% of Wyoming, looks forward to her ouster—and that includes me!”
Trump’s statements came only hours after Cheney was on the House floor imploring colleagues not to buy into the former president's “big lie” that the election was stolen from him due to baseless claims of wide voter fraud.
– Ledyard King
Frequent Trump critic Rep. Adam Kinzinger calls Cheney’s removal ‘sad'
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump said Rep. Liz Cheney's removal from House Republican leadership Wednesday was "sad."
“What happened today was sad,” the congressman told reporters staking out the closed-door meeting.
“Liz has committed the only sin of being consistent and telling the truth. The truth is the election was not stolen,” he said, rebutting the former president’s claims of widespread election fraud in November. “Seventy-four million voters were not disenfranchised, they were outnumbered. And it’s important our party take inventory of that and go out and win the next election instead of continuing the big lie."
– Ledyard King
Cheney removed by voice vote, not secret ballot
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said Rep. Liz Cheney had “a lot” of supporters in the House Republican Conference on Wednesday, but it was unclear how many there were because she was ousted form her leadership position by a voice vote, not a secret ballot as the caucus rules usually dictate.
“I stand with Liz. I’m proud of her. There’s a lot of people who are proud of her for what she’s done and a lot of people who feel threatened by her,” he said. “It was a sad day.”
– Ledyard King
'I will not sit back':In fiery speech, Rep. Liz Cheney calls Trump a 'threat'
Cheney ousted from leadership position in closed-door vote
House Republicans stripped Liz Cheney of her leadership post Wednesday after GOP House members said her public sparring with former President Donald Trump became a distraction to the party hoping to regain the House in 2022. The vote, cast by secret ballot and behind closed doors.
As chair of the GOP House Conference, the three-term Wyoming congresswoman had been the third most powerful Republican member of the House. Her ouster leaves a vacancy GOP officials expect to fill in the coming weeks.
Cheney is a staunch conservative from a red state and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. But her willingness to push back against Trump's "big lie" about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election led to a break with other House Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who remain loyal to the former president and his baseless claims of a stolen election.
– Ledyard King
What is a House GOP Conference chair?:Liz Cheney is set to be removed from her post as House GOP Conference chair. What does the chair do?
Cheney's Tuesday night speech:'I know the topic is cancel culture.' What Rep. Liz Cheney said in her House floor speech about Trump
Meeting begins
A closed-door meeting of House Republicans in which they expect to vote on whether to remove Rep. Liz Cheney from House GOP leadership has begun.
Some House Republicans want to remove Cheney from her post as House Republican Caucus chair after she repeatedly criticized former President Donald Trump's debunked election fraud claims.
The members are meeting behind closed doors in the Capitol, where they'll vote by secret ballot.
– Savannah Behrmann and Sean Rossman
Members seem confident in a Cheney ouster
Several House GOP lawmakers walking into the Capitol seemed confident Rep. Liz Cheney would be ousted as House Republican Conference chair in a closed-door vote expected Wednesday morning.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told USA TODAY he expects there to be “strong support” to remove her, but couldn’t give an estimated number of how many lawmakers may vote to oust her.
– Savannah Behrmann
GOP lawmakers arrive for meeting to decide Cheney’s leadership future
Republican lawmakers have begun to arrive this morning for their closed-door meeting at the Capitol to decide whether Rep. Liz Cheney should remain in House GOP leadership. The meeting is scheduled to start at 9 a.m.
The Wyoming Republican, who has forcefully pushed back against former President Donald Trump’s widely discredited claims of rampant voter fraud in the 2020 election, faces the loss of her seat as the chair of the GOP House Conference.
On the House floor Tuesday night, Cheney urged her GOP colleagues not to bend to the former president. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has recommended GOP lawmakers remove Cheney, saying she’s distracting from the party’s effort to win back Congress in next year’s elections.
– Ledyard King and Savannah Behrmann
Effort to remove Rep. Liz Cheney has been building
The opposition to Rep. Liz Cheney began building after she voted to impeach former President Donald Trump after the Capitol riot in January – one of 10 House Republicans to do so.
Supporters of the 45th president called for her to be removed, and she survived an attempt to remove her from leadership in a secret ballot vote in February. But she has since remained firm in her belief that Trump's rhetoric led to the violence.
After Trump recently insisted the presidential election was stolen, Cheney tweeted "The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”
Her position on Trump in February was backed up by other prominent Republicans like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who soon after the riot said, "The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters." He has now walked back those remarks, and has publicly signaled he supported removing Cheney following her recent comments against Trump, highlighting a fracture within the Republican party.
– Savannah Behrmann
Who is Elise Stefanik?
The person emerging as a potential replacement for Liz Cheney’s position as House GOP Conference chair, should she be ousted Wednesday, is Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican who in the last years of the Trump administration emerged as a loyal and vocal defender of the 45th president.
Stefanik, 36, gained support from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, and Trump over the last few weeks as being able to unify and represent the message of the caucus.
Stefanik, when she was elected in 2014 at age 30, was then the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Prior to being a member of Congress, she attended Harvard University before joining the George W. Bush administration as an aide. She also advised then-vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan in 2012.
She rose to GOP prominence during Trump’s first impeachment, after Trump called Stefanik a “new Republican star” as she defended him against Democrats.
– Savannah Behrmann
What’s with the secret ballot?
House Republicans have debated about Rep. Liz Cheney's future in public. The actual vote will be conducted in private.
When the meeting starts around 9 a.m. Wednesday, the doors will close to the press. Members will have a chance to say something and then they will cast a secret ballot to decide whether she should remain chair of the GOP Conference.
That means no one will really know how each of the 212 Republicans vote on whether to keep Cheney even if they make public pronouncements about her. The vote will be decided by a simple majority of the caucus.
When the votes are cast and the tabulation is complete, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is expected to come out of the meeting and announce the results to the press.
– Ledyard King
'I will not sit back':In fiery speech, Rep. Liz Cheney calls Trump a 'threat'
Cheney's speech:'I know the topic is cancel culture.' What Rep. Liz Cheney said in her House floor speech about Trump
Who is Liz Cheney, the third most-powerful House Republican?
Rep. Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney — who served alongside former President George W. Bush — has been widely respected in conservative politics and was considered one of the next in line to lead House Republicans.
But she was one of 10 Republicans in the House to vote for Trump's impeachment over his alleged incitement of the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, and has since remained firm in her belief that Trump's rhetoric led to the violence.
She has headed the House Republican Conference since 2019 and is the third-ranking Republican in the House. Cheney, Wyoming's only representative, faces a vote to remove her from her leadership position Wednesday morning.
– Savannah Behrmann
Liz Cheney: 'I will not sit back'
Rep. Liz Cheney, who on Wednesday faces a vote to remove her from House Republican leadership, tore into former President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening in a fiery speech on the House floor.
Cheney, the third most-powerful House Republican, has angered some in the party for her repeated criticism of Trump and his claim the 2020 election was stolen from him. A vote behind closed doors and by secret ballot is scheduled for Wednesday morning.
"This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans," she said. "Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence, while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president's crusade to undermine our democracy."
– Phillip M. Bailey and Ledyard King
House GOP expected to vote on Liz Cheney Wednesday
House Republicans meet behind closed doors on Capitol Hill Wednesday to make a major decision likely to highlight a deepening rift in a party hoping to retake control of Congress in 2022.
Will they keep Rep. Liz Cheney as the chamber's third-ranking Republican, or toss her out to make way for a leader more supportive of former President Donald Trump?
Lawmakers will vote by secret ballot whether to oust Cheney as chair of the House Republican Conference, the result of weeks of drama within the House GOP.
The three-term congresswoman from Wyoming and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney has drawn anger from her GOP colleagues in recent weeks as her vocal pushback against Trump's false claims of a stolen 2020 election aggravated party leaders loyal to the former president.
'I will not sit back':In fiery speech, Rep. Liz Cheney calls Trump a 'threat'
What is a House GOP chair?:Liz Cheney is set to be removed from her post as House GOP Conference chair. What does the chair do?
Secret ballot:Liz Cheney's future in Republican leadership to be decided by secret ballot in closed-door meeting
They've said Cheney has become a distraction from the mission to take back the House in next year's mid-term races.
"Having heard from so many of you in recent days, it's clear that we need to make a change," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., wrote in a letter Monday to fellow Republican lawmakers.
High-ranking Republicans including Trump, are backing New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a fierce defender of the former president, to replace Cheney.If Cheney is removed Wednesday, a vote on her replacement is expected to take place at a later time.
Should the House GOP purge Cheney from leadership, it would be the latest evidence of a deep split in the Republican Party, in which some see Trump as its best path to electoral victory while some, like Cheney, say it should move beyond the former president.
Democrats hold slim majorities in the House and Senate and Republicans are eager to pick up seats in 2022 to regain majorities in both chambers.
In a fiery Tuesday evening speech on the House floor, Cheney ripped into Trump and his fraud claims, calling him a "threat."
"This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans," she said. "Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence, while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president's crusade to undermine our democracy."
Kevin McCarthy:Vote to oust Liz Cheney puts spotlight on House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, a Trump loyalist
More:GOP takes sides on Cheney's ouster, with one congressman calling party 'basically the Titanic'
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, believes ousting Cheney will hurt Republican efforts to win back Congress.
"I think we're better trying to expand the number of people who want to vote for Republicans as opposed to shrink that number," he told reporters on Capitol Hill Monday. "I think she's a person of integrity who follows her conscious and speaks the truth. And I think it will do nothing but drive some people away from our party."
House Republicans will meet at 9 a.m. ET Wednesday behind closed doors to hold a secret-ballot vote on Cheney. She can be removed by a simple majority of the 212-member Republican caucus.
In the letter to Republican House members Monday, McCarthy wrote the party's "driving focus would be taking back the House in 2022" and "internal conflicts need to be resolved so as to not detract from the efforts of our collective team."
Trump issued a statement last week through his Save America PAC in which he slammed Cheney as a "warmongering fool who has no business in Republican Party Leadership" and threw his support behind Stefanik.
"We want leaders who believe in the Make America Great Again movement, and prioritize the values of America First," the former president said.
Cheney angered many of her GOP colleagues in January when she not only led a group of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump on a charge he incited the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol but also publicly called the former president out for his unfounded election fraud claims.
Adam Kinzinger:Kinzinger claims McCarthy ignored warning that Jan. 6 events could turn violent
In February, Cheney retained her post in the party during a tumultuous, hours-long, closed-door meeting. Her fellow Republicans voted 145-61 (with one abstention) by secret ballot to keep her as chair.
After the meeting, Cheney told reporters the vote made clear "that we're not divided and that we're not going to be in a situation where people can pick off any member of leadership. It was a very resounding acknowledgment that we need to go forward together, and we need to go forward in a way that helps us push back the really dangerous and negative Democratic policies."
Republicans, including Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, who chairs the Republican Study Committee within the GOP caucus, insist her removal has less to do with her ongoing skirmish with Trump and more about the distraction she had become.
"Any leader who is not focused on pushing back against the radical and dangerous Biden agenda needs to be replaced," he told "Fox News Sunday."
Opinion:Trump Republicans have had it with Liz Cheney and the democracy she chooses to defend
