A few months ago Kevin McCarthy was defending Liz Cheney and her vote to impeach Trump. Now, with his chances to be Speaker hanging in the balance, he's effectively thrown her under the bus, all to appease Trump and his willing acolytes.
Source: NBC News
"It's a poison in the bloodstream of our democracy," Cheney said in remarks first reported by CNN. An aide familiar with the comments confirmed the accuracy of them to NBC News. "We can't whitewash what happened on Jan. 6 or perpetuate Trump's big lie. It is a threat to democracy. What he did on Jan. 6 is a line that cannot be crossed."
Cheney's position has her at odds with McCarthy, who has tried to keep his conference aligned with the former president. After initially assigning Trump blame for the riot — though he voted hours after the attack to block the counting of some electoral votes for Joe Biden — McCarthy has worked to get back into the former president's good graces, including visiting Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
"I think she's got real problems," McCarthy told "Fox and Friends" host Steve Doocy off-air ahead of a live interview Tuesday, according to a hot mic recording obtained by Axios.
"I've had it with ... I've had it with her. You know, I've lost confidence. ... Well, someone just has to bring a motion, but I assume that will probably take place."
Scoop from @kadiagoba: Kevin McCarthy caught on hot mic bad-mouthing Liz Cheney https://t.co/vpFxZ9qVX5
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) May 4, 2021
