House Republicans overwhelmingly voted to keep Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney in her leadership position after the House Freedom Caucus pushed to remove her as the chairwoman of the GOP conference, CNN reports.
Republicans voted 145-61 in a secret ballot to keep Cheney in her position after she joined nine other House Republicans to vote to impeach former President Donald Trump.
"I won't apologize for the vote," Cheney told her colleagues at the meeting.
Cheney delivered an eight-minute speech at the contentious four-hour meeting that sources described as a “calm yet firm defense of the Constitution.” She also confidently told her colleagues that she welcomed the vote.
Republicans spar:
The meeting descended into heated exchanges between House GOP members.
Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry accused Cheney of having “aided and comforted the enemy.”
Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale “loudly and angrily” lit into Cheney at the meeting.
But numerous Republicans defended her, including Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who lashed out at House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.
McCarthy, who did not publicly back Cheney, and other members of GOP leadership defended her as well.
MTG gets standing ovation:
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene apologized to colleagues during the meeting for pushing QAnon conspiracy theories and disputed that she said Jewish space lasers caused wildfires or that school shootings were “false flag” events though she has been defiant publicly, according to the Washington Post.
Greene’s act of contrition drew a standing ovation from many Republicans in the meeting.
The Democratic-led House plans to vote to remove her from two committees on Thursday after McCarthy refused to do it himself.
McCarthy said on Wednesday that Greene’s remarks “do not represent the values or beliefs of the House Republican Conference.”
“I made this clear to Marjorie when we met,” he said. “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.”
