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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Representative Liz Cheney, the House’s third GOP member, had an uncomfortable exchange with reporters on Wednesday over whether former President Trump should speak at CPAC as planned this weekend.
“Yes, he should,” McCarthy said in a brief response after being questioned by a reporter.
Cheney, however, had a different answer when asked the same question.
“It depends on CPAC,” she began, before elaborating. “I’ve been clear on my take on President Trump and the extent to which, after January 6, I don’t think he should play a role in the future of the party or the country.”
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After an awkward moment of silence, McCarthy concluded the press conference. “On that positive note, thank you very much,” he told reporters to laughter.
Cheney rocked the party last month when she voted to impeach Trump. Trump-aligned members of Congress, such as Rep. Matt Gaetz of R-Fla., Have called for his ousting from the House leadership.
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Minority House Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Watches Republican House Conference Speaker Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Speaks to reporters as Congress prepares for its first votes on Democrats’ $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, February 24, 2021 (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite)
Cheney has been censored by Republicans in her home state of Wyoming, and Donald Trump Jr., Gaetz, and others have pledged to support challengers who plan to override her.
But 145 members of the House Republican Conference ended up supporting Cheney, with just 61 Trump loyalists voting to remove her from her leadership role in a secret ballot earlier this month.
And Cheney has remained defiant in his continued criticism of the former president who remains popular in the party.
“Those of us who care deeply about our history and our future, who take our oaths and obligations seriously, will steer our party and our nation into the future,” she told the Reagan Institute. “We will right the unforgivable wrongs of January 6. We will make our party worthy, once again, of the mantle of Lincoln and Reagan.”
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McCarthy backed Cheney but remained pro-Trump, even visiting the former president in Mar-a-Lago to discuss the House’s return to GOP control in 2022.
Paul Steinhauser of Fox News contributed to this report.
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