House

More than half of House GOP commits to vote for resolution calling for Cheney to step down from leadership

by Juliegrace Brufke - 01/19/21 6:06 PM ET

House conservatives have received a commitment from 115 members to back their effort to oust House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her leadership position in the wake of voting in favor of impeaching President Trump for inciting a riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, a senior GOP aide told The Hill on Tuesday.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) are leading the effort on circulating a petition to force a special conference meeting where proponents are looking for a debate and a vote be held on a resolution calling on Cheney to resign from her role at the leadership table.

The vote will be conducted via secret ballot.

Critics of Cheney’s vote on impeachment argue that the timing of her announcement, which came a day before Wednesday’s vote on impeachment, provided Democrats with talking points to go after Republicans.

“Rep. Cheney did not consult with the rest of our conference before supporting impeachment,” Rosendale tweeted last week.

“She failed to abide by the spirit of the Conference rules & is ignoring the preferences of Republican voters. I’m calling on her to step down as Conference Chair,” he added.

Cheney is one of 10 House Republicans who voted in favor of impeaching the president.

The Wyoming Republican, whose position entails leading the conference’s messaging efforts, dismissed the notion that she would be ousted from her role and has stood by her vote to impeach Trump following the insurrection at the Capitol that led to five deaths, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick.

Cheney told reporters last week that she is “not going anywhere.” She added that her decision was “a vote of conscience. It’s one where there are different views in our conference. But our nation is facing an unprecedented, since the Civil War, a constitutional crisis.”

While Cheney’s critics have exceeded the number of signatures to force a meeting, she has also had a sizable number of lawmakers in the conference come to her defense.

“I think it’d be a disaster. I think we need to keep eye on the ball. I think we have a very great chance of taking the majority, and if we continue to give the American people a vision of Republican internal fratricide, that doesn’t do us any favors” Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) told reporters on Tuesday.

“And I’ll be the first one to stand up and say, in front of all of my colleagues, that this is not a path we ought to take. We need to be showing the American people where we come together, what our vision is, what we would do differently than Democrats,” he added.

— Updated 7:00 p.m.

Tags Donald Trump Joe Biden Liz Cheney Rodney Davis