Kevin McCarthy Won’t Back Effort to Remove Liz Cheney from Leadership Post

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will not join efforts to remove House Republican Conference chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) from her leadership role in the wake of her vote to impeach President Donald Trump over last week’s deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to a report.

A spokesman for McCarthy confirmed the news to the Hill amid calls from several House conservatives for Cheney to be ousted. On Wednesday, Cheney was one of ten House Republicans to vote in favor of impeachment, with the measure passing by a count of 232 to 197. McCarthy voted against the move.

Notably, Cheney’s vote prompted calls for her resignation from her post from Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). “We ought to have a second vote,” Jordan told reporters Wednesday. “The conference ought to vote on that.”

Cheney has poured cold water on such calls.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Cheney told Politico reporter Melanie Zanona. “This is a vote of conscience. It’s one where there are different views in our conference.”

Cheney announced her support for impeachment on Tuesday, sending shockwaves throughout Washington, DC.

“On January 6, 2021 a violent mob attacked the United States Capitol to obstruct the process of our democracy and stop the counting of presidential electoral votes. This insurrection caused injury, death and destruction in the most sacred space in our Republic,” Cheney said in a statement.

“Much more will become clear in coming days and weeks, but what we know now is enough. The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President,” the lawmaker added. “The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”

“I will vote to impeach the President,” she concluded.