”Is she a Republican?” freshman Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), quipped of the former No. 3 House GOP leader.
The bipartisan credibility of the Democratic-led Jan.6 investigation now rests on the shoulders of Liz Cheney. And that burden could cost her even more dearly with the GOP. Cheney reignited her lonely war with her party Wednesday by siding with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to reject two of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s picks for the select committee investigating the violent Capitol attack by supporters of Donald Trump. Democrats cheered Pelosi’s veto of two of their most ruthless political antagonists, Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio.). But Pelosi’s move — and more so Cheney’s endorsement of the strategy — enraged the GOP across the spectrum, igniting a wave of fury aimed squarely at the Wyoming Republican. ”Is she a Republican?” freshman Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), quipped of Cheney. Nehls was one of five Republicans tapped by McCarthy to serve on the select panel. The former No.3 House Republican didn’t stop at supporting Pelosi’s move, standing before a bank of cameras on the Capitol steps Wednesday afternoon to torch McCarthy and reiterate her commitment to the select committee investigation of the violent riot. Cheney’s decision to move ahead as the sole Republican on the panel further solidifies her exceptional status within the Capitol, a notorious and increasingly isolated figure in a GOP conference that emphasizes Trumpism above most else. For several of her Republican colleagues, Cheney has now committed a sin even more grave than her relentless criticism of the former president: publicly standing with Pelosi. Some Republicans even raised the idea of Cheney facing consequences for her decision to stay involved with the panel, though they didn’t wade into the topic of what those should be. “For her to stay on is not right. And she ought to have some consequences for that,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). “She should probably just go and switch parties and be a Democrat. She’s gonna violate everything. She’s not in a leadership position so she has got some freedom, but this is so blatant.” Norman predicted that GOP leadership would try to talk to Cheney about the matter and, if she refuses to meet with them, House Republicans should hold a vote on her future among them. “As far as any consequences for her, [it] ought to go to the conference — let us vote on it as a group,” Norman added. McCarthy has indicated it may be untenable for Cheney to keep her committee assignments if she remains on the select panel, telling reporters at the beginning of the month that he didn’t know when “someone would go get their committee assignments from the speaker and expect them to have them from the conference as well.
