© Reuters/Aaron P. BernsteinCongresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wy)
Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney held onto her post in House leadership Wednesday night, closing a turbulent chapter in the backlash over her impeachment vote last month.
Cheney kept her job as House Republican Conference chair by an 84-vote margin, surviving the referendum on her role in leadership 145-61. One member voted present.
The movement for a recall was led by the conservative
Freedom Caucus after Cheney undermined the conference by voting with Democrats on former President Donald Trump's impeachment. House members complained
Cheney blindsided the rest of the conference she leads when she announced her intent to impeach the Republican president on the eve of the vote.
Impeachment, however, was only part of the party's frustration.
Cheney remained virtually absent and ineffective in House Republicans' campaign efforts last year, having little to do with fundraising and candidate recruitment.
Cheney also backed the primary opponent of Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie. That opponent ended up facing a racism scandal.While Cheney survived the referendum, the three-term at-large representative still faces problems at home, where her favorability has plummeted in light of the firestorm she created when she backed Democrats achieving the top item on their policy agenda in the final days of Trump's presidency.
Hundreds gathered at the Wyoming Capitol building in Cheyenne last week led by Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz to protest Cheney, in a sign of trouble for the state's only representative. She is also facing a primary challenge from a prominent state senator. Cheney was also
censured by members of her own state party.
A poll out last week conducted by Trump pollster John McLaughlin found
only 10 percent of GOP primary voters reported willingness to support Cheney in next year's primary. Only 13 percent of voters said they would support the incumbent if she made to the general.
Comment: Another
political 'save' is in the works as long as there is no independent thinking going on:
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced no disciplinary actions against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in a statement released as he met with his caucus. McCarthy condemned her incendiary remarks, but offered no disciplinary actions. The statement against her read:
"Past comments from and endorsed by Marjorie Taylor Greene on school shootings, political violence, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories do not represent the values or beliefs of the House Republican Conference. I condemn those comments unequivocally. I condemned them in the past. I continue to condemn them today. This House condemned QAnon last Congress and continues to do so today."
McCarthy met with Greene on Tuesday, and the GOP leader said he gave her the same message:
"I made this clear to Marjorie when we met. I also made clear that as a member of Congress we have a responsibility to hold ourselves to a higher standard than how she presented herself as a private citizen. Her past comments now have much greater meaning. Marjorie recognized this in our conversation. I hold her to her word, as well as her actions going forward."
The House is set to vote on removing Greene from her committee assignments [Education and Labor Committee] on Thursday. Senate GOP leaders have condemned Greene forcefully, but have no power on her committee assignments. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) rejected a deal proposed by McCarthy to remove her from the Education and Labor Committee but allow her to remain on the House Budget panel.
"The Rules Committee will meet this afternoon, and the House will vote on the resolution tomorrow. There's no other way to slice this: McCarthy completely screwed this up and threw the conference under the bus in the process. It's the job of the leader to protect members from bad floor votes. He could've dealt with this a week ago and his inability to ever take a position allowed Democrats to make the decision for him and put our members in the absolute worse position possible."
Mia culpa moment for Greene pays off politically:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) apologized for her past controversial remarks and embrace of the QAnon conspiracy theory during a heated closed-door House GOP conference meeting — and received a standing ovation at one point from a number of her colleagues. Greene told her colleagues that she made a mistake by being curious about "Q" and said she told her children she learned a lesson about what to put on social media, according to two sources in the room.
Various outlets have unearthed remarks by Greene supporting the QAnon conspiracy theory, which posits that Democrats and Hollywood are behind an international child sex peddling scandal; backing violence against Democratic officials; arguing that schools shootings were staged to win support for gun control; and suggesting that California's wildfires were caused by a space laser to make way for a high-speed rail project linked to PG&E and the Rothschilds.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) office earlier on Wednesday issued a blistering statement mocking McCarthy for cowardice and suggesting he was the leader of the QAnon party.
See also:
For more on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, see also:
UPDATE 4/2/2021: U.S. House strips Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene of two high-profile committee assignments.
© Reuters/Kevin LamarqueU.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) escorted from her office to the U.S. Capitol.
Comment: Another political 'save' is in the works as long as there is no independent thinking going on: Mia culpa moment for Greene pays off politically: See also: