Republican Rep. Jim Jordan said Wednesday that he will move to oust Rep. Liz Cheney from her role as House Republican Conference Chair in the wake of her announcement that she will vote to impeach President Donald Trump.
“The conference ought to vote on that,” Jordan (Ohio), a member of the arch-conservative House Freedom Caucus, said in the Capitol on Wednesday. “We ought to have a second vote.”
A spokesperson for Cheney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cheney (Wyo.) released a statement Tuesday explaining her support for Trump’s impeachment, saying he “summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack” on the U.S. Capitol last week. Pro-Trump rioters violently stormed the Capitol last week after the president spoke outside the White House, calling on his supporters to “be strong.”
“None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not,” Cheney said in the statement. “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”
Cheney bucked House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), both of whom oppose impeachment, setting up a rift in GOP leadership.
On the House floor Wednesday ahead of an impeachment vote, Jordan spoke against Democrats’ efforts to impeach Trump after voting to overturn presidential results last week.
Trump earlier this month awarded Jordan the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor a civilian can receive.