House GOP leader says he backs ousting Cheney from No. 3 job

House Republicans could vote as early as Wednesday to remove Rep. Liz Cheney, the highest-ranking woman in the Republican leadership

Top House Republican Kevin McCarthy on Sunday publicly endorsed Rep. Elise Stefanik for the post of No. 3 leader, cementing the party conference’s support of the Donald Trump loyalist over Rep. Liz Cheney, an outspoken critic of the former president for promoting discredited claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

House Republicans could vote as early as Wednesday to remove Cheney, the highest-ranking woman in the Republican leadership and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and replace her with Stefanik, whose ascension has received Trump’s backing.

In this April 22, 2021, file photo, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., speaks during his weekly press briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Asked in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” whether he supported Stefanik, R-N.Y., for the job of Republican Conference chair, McCarthy responded: “Yes, I do.”

“We want to be united in moving forward, and I think that is what will take place,” he said in response to a question about whether he had the votes to oust Cheney, R-Wyo.

READ MORE: Trump spokesperson says defeating Rep. Cheney is ‘high priority’

McCarthy said the leadership post must focus on a message “day in and day out” on what he said were the problems of the Biden administration.

In this Feb. 13, 2019 file photo, House Republican Conference chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., at right, talks to reporters during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Cheney has taken on Republicans, including McCarthy, R-Calif., for indulging Trump’s false claims that the November election was “stolen” from him. In an opinion essay Wednesday in The Washington Post, she denounced the “dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality,” and warned her fellow Republicans against embracing or ignoring his statements “for fundraising and political purposes.”

READ MORE: No. 2 House Republican backs Cheney ouster over Trump barbs

McCarthy on Sunday denied that Republicans’ effort to remove Cheney was based on her views about Trump or her vote to impeach him over the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. He said her continued attention on Trump distracted from Republicans’ goal of winning back the House in 2022 and successfully opposing President Joe Biden’s agenda.

In this Jan. 23, 2020, file photo Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., center, accompanied by from left, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y. and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, speaks to the media before the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/ Jacquelyn Martin, File)

McCarthy complained last week that he had “lost confidence” in Cheney and “had it with her” over her continuing remarks about Trump, according to a leaked recording of his exchange on “Fox and Friends.”

The second-ranking House Republican leader, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, already has announced his support for Stefanik.

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