In a recently published interview, House Representative Bob Good (R-VA-05) stated that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23) blocked an effort to oust former Wyoming Rep., Liz Cheney, as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference and was a supporter of Cheney until she “embarrassed” him at a press conference in February 2021.
“We asked him to get rid of Liz Cheney out of leadership in the new Congress in February of ’21 after, as the conference chair, she voted to impeach President Trump and came out consistently attacking the leader of our party at that time. Certainly no one would have disputed that a year and a half ago, and he did not support our efforts to do that and the Republican base wanted us to get rid of her as conference chair and he supported her and blocked our efforts to do so in February of ’21,” Good said.
“It wasn’t until shortly thereafter, just a couple of weeks later, when she embarrassed him publicly at a press conference [that he stopped supporting Cheney],” Good said.
“He didn’t care that she voted to impeach Trump. He didn’t care that she was attacking a former President. It was only until she embarrassed him at a press conference that he began to support our efforts. We instituted an effort to request recorded votes on the House floor for suspension bills. You know, where in an empty chamber the Democrat majority running the floor would say, ‘Hey, this bill we’re going to pass it by unanimous consent,’ and it passes by unanimous consent in an empty chamber,” Good stated in the interview.
McCarthy spoke to Capitol Hill reporters on February 3rd, 2021, after House Republicans held a ‘secret ballot’ which resulted in the decision to keep Cheney in her role as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference caucus.
“People can have differences of opinion that we can have a discussion about. Liz has the right to vote her conscience. At the end of the day, we’ll get united,” McCarthy said at the time.
In August, the daughter of former U.S. Vice President, Dick Cheney, mocked McCarthy’s communication skills. The duo are clearly no longer on friendly terms.
The U.S. Constitution does not require that the Speaker of the House be a current member of Congress, however, no non-members have ever been elected.
The election for the next Speaker of the House will take place on January 3rd, 2022.
Stay tuned to The National File for any updates.
