House Republicans oust Trump critic Cheney

WASHINGTON • Republicans in the US House of Representatives voted yesterday to remove Ms Liz Cheney from their leadership, punishing her for criticising former president Donald Trump's false claims that last year's election was stolen from him through fraud.

After her ouster as the No. 3 House Republican was carried out in minutes in a closed-door meeting, a defiant Ms Cheney said it is impossible to "embrace the big lie and embrace the Constitution" and that she would lead the fight to bring her party back to "fundamental principles of conservatism".

Ms Cheney, 54, also vowed to prevent Mr Trump from ever regaining the presidency, telling reporters: "I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office."

The Wyoming congresswoman, the daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney, was one of 10 House Republicans who voted in January to impeach Mr Trump on a charge of inciting insurrection. Senate Republicans provided the votes in the following month to prevent him from being barred from holding future public office.

Ms Cheney rejected House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy's contention that the party must refrain from criticising Mr Trump in order to win back congressional majorities in the 2022 mid-term elections. "We have seen the danger that he continues to provoke with his language," she said of Mr Trump.

She ended her brief remarks to reporters without saying whether she will remain in the House and run for re-election next year or take another path.

REUTERS