Three weeks after GOP Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) said she would vote to impeach former President Trump, a barrage of her male colleagues lined up to criticize her during a conference meeting, The New York Times Magazine reported on Thursday.
Some of the remarks were decidedly sexist, and were shared among GOP women in political circles in Washington, D.C., the Times reported.
A remark from Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) in particular created waves.
Kelly reportedly equated Cheney voting to impeach Trump to a football game, telling the conference, “You look up into the stands and see your girlfriend on the opposition’s side — that’s one hell of a tough thing to swallow,” the Times reported.
“She’s not your girlfriend!” a female colleague reportedly yelled out in response, the story stated.
The Times reported that Kelly’s comment was immediately passed around circles of Republican women in professional Washington. Former GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock (Va.) told the Times she was “horrified” by the comment.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), addressing Cheney as “Liz,” reportedly said that her “defiant attitude” bothered him, adding that she was not being a “team player.”
Cheney reportedly refused to apologize for her vote when asked by several members, saying, “I cannot do that.”
The Hill has reached out to Cheney for comment.
Cheney has been under pressure from Trump and his allies since her vote to impeach him, with the former president regularly taking time to offer barbs toward the conservative Republican and daughter of the former vice president. Trump has made no secret of his hope that Cheney will lose a primary next year.
The remarks targeting Cheney took place at a regular conference meeting behind closed doors on Feb. 3 and included calls for her to be removed from leadership.
In February, Cheney thwarted an attempt by GOP allies of Trump to remove her from her No. 3 leadership position in the House GOP conference. The conference, in a secret ballot vote, decided 145-61 to keep Cheney in leadership.
Three days later, however, the Wyoming Republican Party censured the three-term congresswoman following her controversial vote.
Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump.
In a statement following the censure in Wyoming, Cheney defended her impeachment vote, writing that she was “compelled by the oath I swore to the Constitution.”
“Wyoming citizens know that this oath does not bend or yield to politics or partisanship,” Cheney continued. “I will always fight for Wyoming values and stand up for our Western way of life.”