Wyoming Republican Party votes to no longer recognize Liz Cheney as part of the GOP

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).
(Image credit: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

With a vote of 31-29, the Wyoming GOP Central Committee passed a resolution over the weekend to no longer recognize Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as a member of the Republican Party.

This comes after several county Republican parties, objecting to Cheney's criticism of former President Donald Trump and his role in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, voted to no longer recognize her as part of the GOP. Cheney voted to impeach Trump after the attack on the Capitol, saying he "lit the flame."

The central committee's resolution claims, without evidence, that the events of Jan. 6 were triggered by antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters. Cheney is on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot, and the resolution accuses her of "proudly" pledging allegiance to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and asks House Republican leadership to "immediately remove" Cheney from "all committee assignments and the House Republican conference itself, to assist and expedite her seamless exodus from the Republican Party."

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This is symbolic move that does not strip Cheney of any power. In a statement to the Casper Star Tribune, Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler said "it's laughable to suggest Liz is anything but a committed conservative Republican. She is bound by her oath to the Constitution. Sadly, a portion of the Wyoming GOP leadership has abandoned that fundamental principle, and instead allowed themselves to be held hostage to the lies of a dangerous and irrational man."

When Trump was in office, Cheney — who is up for re-election in 2022 — voted with him on policy 93 percent of the time, siding with Trump more often than his staunch supporters Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the Star Tribune reports.

Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.