Trump Tightens Grip on GOP With Cheney’s Ouster From Post

Donald Trump’s grip on the GOP will tighten with a vote by House Republicans Wednesday to depose Representative Liz Cheney from her leadership post for her persistent rebuttals to Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

The outcome of the closed-door vote of the 212-member Republican conference is largely settled. House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and his chief deputy, Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, are publicly supporting Cheney’s ouster and her replacement with New York Representative Elise Stefanik, a Trump loyalist. The former president also is backing Stefanik.

Cheney, 54, a Wyoming conservative and daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney, has not campaigned to keep her job as conference chair, but her spokesman said in a text message Tuesday night that she will not step down before the House Republican meeting. She warned anew in a House floor speech Tuesday that the GOP’s embrace of Trump and his repeated unfounded election claims is damaging the party and the country.

“Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar,” Cheney said. “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.”

The House Republican vote, which is set to take place at a private meeting scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., underscores internal fissures created by Trump and his determination to exercise control over the GOP as it charts a path to recapture control of Congress in the 2022 midterms and the White House in 2024.

Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over his role in encouraging the violent mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. She survived one attempt to remove her after that vote, but she has continued to criticize Trump and assail his repeated false election claims.

“The Electoral College has voted; more than 60 state and federal courts, including multiple judges the former president appointed, have rejected his claims,” she said Tuesday evening on the House floor. “Those who refuse to accept the rulings of our courts are at war with the constitution.”