House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy defended Rep. Liz Cheney on Wednesday at a fiery conference meeting where some Republicans wanted her ousted from her leadership post.
Some in the GOP have called for removing the Wyoming Republican from her position as conference chair over her vote in favor of impeaching former President Donald Trump.
“People can have differences of opinion,” Mr. McCarthy told reporters. “Liz has a right to vote her conscience and at the end of the day, we get united.”
The GOP leader is also facing frustration in his conference over comments from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia as Democrats are moving Thursday to strip her of seats on the House Committee on Budget and House Committee on Education and Labor.
Democrats say the freshman member of Congress called for violence against lawmakers and has supported conspiracy theories such as QAnon, calling the 9-11 attack a hoax and saying school shooting victims are crisis actors.
Ms. Greene has come under intense fire from memes of both parties over her embrace of QAnon and the incendiary comments she made before getting elected to represent Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.
The Democrat-run House Rules Committee pushed forward the resolution Wednesday, readying the move to oust Ms. Greene from committees. The resolution is unprecedented.
Though Mr. McCarthy said he disavowed Ms. Greene’s remarks, he said Democrats have held a double-standard, keeping Rep. Eric Swalwell of California on the Intelligence Committee after news recently broke he had been targeted by a Chinese spy.
“They are concerned with her being on Ed and Workforce and Labor — I guess they call it — and Marjorie is also a small business owner so move her to small business. I made that offer to the Democrats and they chose to do something Congress has never done and if they are going to pick people based on what they said before or they are going to hold the same standard to what they said now. Is Swalwell going to stay on Homeland and Intel?” Mr. McCarthy said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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