AP Photo/Danny Johnston
- Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said it is “divisive” for the GOP to consider ousting Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney.
- Cheney has been under scrutiny for her public criticism of former President Donald Trump.
- House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday some members voiced concerns about Cheney’s “ability to carry out the job as conference chair.”
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Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson weighed in on the mounting GOP criticism of Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, saying he doesn’t think it is “healthy” for the party to consider ousting her over her public criticism of Trump and the GOP.
Hutchinson came to Cheney’s defense after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, of California, signaled his and other GOP lawmakers waning support of Cheney as conference chair in an interview with “Fox and Friends” earlier this week.
“I have heard from members concerned about her ability to carry out the job as conference chair, to carry out the message,” McCarthy said during the Tuesday interview. “We all need to be working as one if we’re able to win the majority [in the 2022 midterm elections].”
After the interview, McCarthy was later heard on a hot mic privately saying he has “had it with her” and that he “lost confidence” in her as a Republican leader in the House, Axios reported Tuesday.
“You know, I’ve lost confidence,” McCarthy said. “Well, someone just has to bring a motion, but I assume that will probably take place.”
Cheney initially raised the ire of her party when she voted in favor of Trump’s impeachment earlier this year. That move resulted in the Wyoming GOP censuring her.
In an op-ed published Wednesday by The Washington Post, Cheney slammed some GOP lawmakers’ continued support for Trump after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden by more than 7 million votes. Cheney called her party’s ongoing fealty to Trump “immensely harmful.”
“While embracing or ignoring Trump’s statements might seem attractive to some for fundraising and political purposes, that approach will do profound long-term damage to our party and our country,” Cheney wrote. “Trump has never expressed remorse or regret for the attack of Jan. 6 and now suggests that our elections, and our legal and constitutional system, cannot be trusted to do the will of the people.”
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Hutchinson said he doesn’t think ousting Cheney as a House Republican leader is “healthy for our party.”
“We’ve got to get back to talking about ideas and how to unify ourselves,” Hutchinson said in the interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett.
“This debate right now will not be perceived as helpful but divisive,” he continued.
-OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) May 5, 2021
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