House Freedom Caucus Members Call on Cheney to Step Down From House Role

House Freedom Caucus Members Call on Cheney to Step Down From House Role
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington on July 21, 2020. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Jack Phillips
2/25/2021
Updated:
2/25/2021

The conservative House Freedom Caucus called on Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) to resign after she made comments Wednesday saying former President Donald Trump should not have a leadership role in the GOP moving forward.

“She should step down,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told news outlets on Thursday. Another member, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), asserted Cheney “forfeited her right” to be the chairwoman for the Republican Caucus.

In a vote several weeks ago, Republicans again chose Cheney to be the No. 3 House Republican, coming after she voted to impeach Trump. On Wednesday, Cheney broke with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) during a news conference when they were asked about Trump’s scheduled speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this weekend.
McCarthy said, “Yes, he should.” But Cheney said: saying: “That’s up to CPAC ... I don’t believe that he should be playing a role in the future of the party or the country.”
Biggs told Fox News Thursday that Cheney shouldn’t be in the House leadership because she allegedly doesn’t have her finger on the pulse of the GOP.

“I also think she is absolutely devoid of any kind of political reading of what’s going on in the party,” he said. “If she [has] any sense of shame, she would step down.”

Trump, as recent polls suggest, remains enormously popular with the Republican Party—with several finding that a significant number of Republican voters would consider joining a Trump-backed political party. Meanwhile, a number of lawmakers who either voted to impeach or convict Trump have been censured in their home states.

Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, was also censured by the Wyoming GOP earlier this month. In response, Cheney said that members of the Wyoming Republican Party “are mistaken” and “have been lied to” about the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

The Wyoming committee also called on her to “immediately resign” after her vote.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a Trump surrogate in Congress, traveled to Wyoming to rally against Cheney following her vote, and Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, called the rally to add his support. Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski singled Cheney out as the first target for his nascent political action committee.

In the midst of the Republican rift, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) released a memo on Feb. 23 calling on Republicans to drop the internal squabbling and focus on defeating the Democrats in the midterm elections.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Cheney’s office for comment.

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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