OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
GOP Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois continue to come under fire from members of their party a year after voting to impeach then-President Donald Trump who was on his way out of the White House at the time.
According to the Washington Post, via the Daily Mail, the Republican National Committee, which is meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, from Wednesday through Friday, will consider a proposal to formally expel the two lawmakers from the House GOP Conference for attempting to “destroy President Trump.
The push, which is being led by former Trump adviser David Bossie, comes at the RNC’s annual meeting. Cheney and Kinzinger are the only two Republicans on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s hand-picked Jan. 6 Committee investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol Building, which both GOP lawmakers have blamed on Trump.
New: Trump ally and RNC member David Bossie is pushing the Republican Party to formally rebuke and evict Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger at the party's annual meeting this week. He has submitted a resolution that could lead to an interesting vote/showdown. https://t.co/G3PYdcayx1
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 31, 2022
The Daily Mail adds:
His co-sponsor is Wyoming state RNC Chair Frank Eathorne, another Trump ally who attended the protest outside the Capitol on January 6 last year. The Wyoming GOP voted to un-recognize Cheney in 2021 over her efforts to work with Democrats on the Capitol riot committee.
The reported resolution is the highest-profile spat yet in the growing divide between Trump allies within the GOP and those who believe he should be held accountable for the January 6 Capitol riot and pushing false 2020 election conspiracy theories.
It’s extremely rare for federal elected officials to be ejected from their own party.
Cheney has already been censored by several county-level Republican Party organizations. And Kinzinger has opted not to run for reelection in November after Illinois Democrats redrew his district following the 2020 Census in a way that makes it nearly impossible for him to win.
According to reports, the resolution text accuses Cheney, who was replaced as head of the House GOP Conference last year by Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, and Kinzinger of attempting to “destroy” the former president by working with Pelosi’s committee.
Bossie’s resolution suggests that the two lawmakers instead focus on helping GOP candidates win in November rather than work with Democrats on the panel, according to people with knowledge of the document.
Cheney’s office responded to a request for comment from the Daily Mail by pointing to her remarks to the Post in the paper’s earlier report.
“The leaders of the Republican Party have made themselves willing hostages to a man who admits he tried to ‘overturn’ a presidential election and suggests he would pardon Jan. 6 defendants, some of whom have been charged with seditious conspiracy,” the Wyoming legislator said.
“I’m a constitutional conservative and I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump. History will be their judge. I will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic. No matter what,” she added.
Kinzinger could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Daily Mail noted further:
Monday’s report notes that National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel hasn’t taken a position on the resolution, but in November she said Cheney was ‘still a Republican’ despite the lawmaker’s fallout with the Wyoming GOP.
Cheney and Kinzinger are among 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump following the Capitol riot.
While Kinzinger has bowed out of reelection, Cheney has announced she is running again though she is facing a stiff challenge. Trump has endorsed a primary opponent, Wyoming attorney Harriet Hageman, whom he said “is running against warmonger and disloyal Republican” Cheney.
“Unlike RINO Liz Cheney, Harriet is all in for America First. Harriet has my Complete and Total Endorsement in replacing the Democrats’ number one provider of sound bites, Liz Cheney. Make America Great Again!” the former president said.
In a Wyoming GOP straw poll last month, Hageman crushed Cheney by a landslide.
