(DCWatchdog.com) – In a recent appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) purposely blamed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for the chaos and dysfunction experienced in the House, especially after her removal from a leadership position.
Cheney suggested that McCarthy’s decisions, particularly his support for certain members of the House who contested the 2020 election results and his seeming indifference to the events of January 6, have contributed significantly to the current state of affairs.
Cheney remarked, “I wish that it were surprising,” when discussing the House’s absence of a Speaker. She expressed her concerns about McCarthy’s choices, stating, “You know, what we’ve seen is a result of really, the leadership decisions that Kevin McCarthy made all the way back after the 2020 election and certainly after January 6, then, you know, looking the other way in the face of the kind of assault on our democracy that we’ve seen from [former President Trump] and his allies in the House, including [Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)].”
She did not shy away from criticizing McCarthy’s decision to give prominence to certain members, whom she termed as “white supremacists” and “anti-Semitic.” Cheney emphasized that some of these individuals had actively sought to challenge and overturn the 2020 election results. She added, “It’s not a surprise when you see that those people have been in power.”
Cheney also discussed the threats of violence some Republicans are facing amidst the ongoing turbulence in the House leadership. She stated that the “acceptance of violence is completely inappropriate and dangerous in our politics.” Several Republicans have publicly revealed receiving death threats based on their recent Speaker votes.
Cheney linked these threats back to former President Trump’s unproven allegations regarding the 2020 election outcome. She expressed, “We know that that lie was very effective and sparking violence, and it hasn’t stopped.” She hoped for an open discussion on this matter, raising the question, “do you accept that Donald Trump lost the election in 2020?”
It’s worth noting that Cheney herself faced political consequences for opposing Trump’s election narrative. In 2021, she was removed from her GOP leadership role and replaced by a Trump loyalist—a decision McCarthy played a crucial role in executing.
