The White House says it’s staying out of “inter-party” squabbles on Capitol Hill as the House GOP moves to oust Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership post Wednesday.
“We will leave that to them to work out among themselves,” President Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, said Tuesday.
House Republicans are set to oust Ms. Cheney as Republican Conference chair and replace her with Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Minority Whip Steve Scalise and other conservatives abandoned Ms. Cheney over her criticism of former President Donald Trump, who insists the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Ms. Cheney says the unsubstantiated claims and resulting violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 hurt the party. But some Republicans say she’s straying from the base and needs to go.
Mr. Trump endorsed Ms. Stefanik as a replacement, forcing Ms. Psaki to field questions on Tuesday about whether the shake-up will impact Mr. Biden’s push for bipartisan “unity.”
Ms. Psaki said the push for bipartisanship is not about “being an arbiter or a mediator between intra-party fighting in the Republican Party.”
She pointed to Mr. Biden’s planned meeting with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and other Republicans to discuss infrastructure.
“Same day as the vote, he’s invited bipartisan leaders to come to the White House to have a discussion about where we can find common ground,” Ms. Psaki said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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