Republican lawmakers demanded Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House, resign after voting to impeach President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Politico reports.
Members of the far-right Freedom Caucus are circulating a petition to force a conference meeting to vote on a resolution calling for Cheney to resign.
The resolution says that Cheney’s position “does not reflect that of the majority of the Republican Conference and has brought the Conference into disrepute and produced discord.”
“The conference ought to vote on that,” said Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. “We ought to have a second vote.”
Cheney was unanimously reelected as the House GOP Conference chair in November.
Cheney not going anywhere:
"I'm not going anywhere. This is a vote of conscience,” Cheney told Politico. “It's one where there are different views in our conference. But our nation is facing an unprecedented, since the civil war, constitutional crisis.
“That's what we need to be focused on,” she added. “That's where our efforts and attention need to be."
Cheney was one of 10 Republicans to back Trump’s impeachment.
GOP leaders divided:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly also backs the impeachment and may vote to convict Trump. But House Republican leaders Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise both voted against the impeachment.
McCarthy has not said whether he thinks Cheney should remain in GOP leadership.
"I think that when Kevin and Steve supported an unconstitutional challenge to the election, and when [Liz Cheney] is supporting a constitutionally flawed impeachment, we have leadership issues," Colorado Rep. Ken Buck said.
