In a draft of the petition, which was obtained by CNN, conservatives are calling on Cheney for a special meeting “to discuss a resolution on your leadership.” The petition is still in draft form and is being circulated by members of the House Freedom Caucus.
While the petition is garnering support, signing onto the petition means members back holding the special meeting. Under House Republican conference rules, you need 20% of the conference or 43 members to sign onto a petition like this in order to hold a special meeting. Signing onto the petition to hold the meeting is not the same as saying members are willing to vote to oust Cheney right now. In any meeting, the members would have to vote separately on the resolution asking her to step down.
The effort to actually oust Cheney continues to be viewed as a long shot by GOP aides watching the process. While it is expected the conference may have to hold a special meeting on the topic, actually ousting Cheney is much harder. The conference would have to vote on a resolution asking her to step down and a majority would have to back it, something that aides don’t expect is possible right now.
“There is angst, but I don’t think they get there,” one Republican aide told CNN on the condition of background to freely discuss the issue.
A spokesperson for Cheney responded to the effort in a statement Tuesday.
“We always welcome the opportunity to have discussions within the conference, and look forward to this one,” Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler said. “As President-Elect Biden takes office and begins to implement an agenda that threatens our economic recovery and reverses course on important national security issues, our conference will be united in standing for conservative solutions to bring the nation together and retake the majority in 2022.”
Cheney’s calls for impeachment were far from the only ones in Congress from Republicans. Ten House Republicans voted to impeach Trump and multiple GOP senators have said they are open to looking at impeachment against the President. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that the mob that attacked the US Capitol had been “provoked” by Trump.
“If it is true they are trying to do this, the party is committing suicide,” the official said. “Taking out the most senior woman in leadership when your party is bleeding out suburban women is the definition of self-harm.”
“At some point there is going to have to be a conversation about whether we are going to have this civil war or not in the Republican Party,” the GOP aide said. “The cumulative effect of all of this is not helpful. I think at some point you get to a mutually assured destruction posture and people just stand down.”
This post has been updated with additional developments Tuesday.
CNN’s Jamie Gangel contributed to this report.
2021-01-20 00:34:56
