Brooks and Capehart on Biden’s impeachment inquiry and tensions among House Republicans

New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart join Geoff Bennett to discuss the week in politics, including rising tensions in the House as lawmakers launch an impeachment inquiry into President Biden.

Trump steps up war with Senate GOP

Former President Trump is stepping up his war with Senate Republicans by calling for primary challenges next year against GOP incumbents who do not support investigating President Biden's family finances.  

Many Senate Republicans have made clear they don’t want Trump to win their party’s nomination for president, and they’re leery about rallying to his defense given the former president’s polarizing effect on moderate Republican and swing voters. 

Senate GOP aides and strategists argue they can’t do much regarding the Biden family's business dealings because they don’t have the power to issue subpoenas as the Senate’s minority party.  

But GOP senators aren’t giving Trump much rhetorical support either — in sharp contrast from prominent House Republicans such as Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). 

Ron Bonjean, a GOP strategist and former Senate leadership aide, said the Trump call will appear to a number of Senate Republicans like a way for Trump to distract people from the investigations into his own activities.

But he suggested it isn’t likely to work.

“A good number of Senate Republicans take a more measured approach usually. They don’t knee-jerk to pressure,” Bonjean said.

Trump appears to be losing patience with Republican lawmakers on the fence about impeaching Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland, as the federal and state felony charges pile up against him along with his mounting legal bills.   

Trump mocked GOP senators and House members who say they have “other priorities” and would prefer to leave the investigations of Hunter Biden and the Biden family's business dealings to the House committees.  

“They sit back and they say, ‘We have other priorities, we have to look at other things.’ Any Republican that doesn’t act on Democrat fraud should be immediately primaried. Get out. Out,” he declared at a Saturday rally in Erie, Pa.  

The comments came a few days after Trump hit Senate Republicans for not taking a more aggressive approach to Biden’s personal finances.  

“With all of these horrible revelations and facts, why hasn’t Republican ‘leadership’ in the Senate spoken up and rebuked Crooked Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats, Fascists, and Marxists for their criminal acts against our Country, some of them against me,” he demanded in a post on Truth Social. 

Cool to launching impeachment proceedings

Republican senators are cool to the idea of launching impeachment proceedings against Biden in the House and generally have kept their distance from House GOP threats to cut funding to the Department of Justice and FBI in response to more than 30 felony counts prosecutors have brought against Trump.  

Asked last week whether he saw any merit to an impeachment inquiry into Biden, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said impeachment “ought to be rare rather than common.” 

“I’m not surprised that having been treated the way they were, House Republicans last Congress, [they] begin open up the possibility of doing it again,” he said, referring to the two impeachments of then-President Trump by a Democratic-controlled House.  

“And I think this is not good for the country to have repeated impeachment problems,” McConnell warned.  

It was hardly a ringing endorsement of the House Republican-led investigations into the Biden family and the Department of Justice’s handling of criminal allegations against Hunter Biden.  

Bonjean said “in any impeachment, there would be a trial in the Senate,” which is another reason why Republican senators want to preserve an appearance of impartiality and not rush to judgement about allegations of corruption against the sitting president.  

Republicans up for reelection next year include Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah), an outspoken Trump critic, as well as Republicans who have largely stayed quiet about the president, including Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.).

None of these incumbents appear vulnerable, but GOP strategists warn that Trump’s support could result in several of them facing credible primary challenges.  

“They could. Some Senate Republicans could face primary pressure over the next year, but they have a lot of time to position themselves on the matter and see how things unfold,” Bonjean said.  

Trump tried to drum up opposition in the last election cycle to Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).  

He was more successful in stirring up support for Murkowski's Republican challenger, Kelly Tshibaka, but his efforts to recruit a primary challenge to Thune in South Dakota quickly fizzled. 

Senate Republicans believe they have a good chance to win back the Senate majority in 2024 because Democrats will have to defend 23 seats, while they only have to protect 11 GOP-held seats.  

A tough spot

Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University who served several fellowships in the Senate, said Trump’s calls for Republicans to embrace the partisan investigations of Biden’s family puts Republicans facing competitive general-election races next year in a tough spot.  

“These are people who given the political physics of their congressional districts have to play a very exquisite balancing act. The idea that they move to impeach Biden does not play well in those districts,” he said of Republican lawmakers in competitive House districts.  

Baker warned that some Senate Republicans could be in “jeopardy” in primaries next year if Trump decides to launch a full-scale assault against incumbents he views as reluctant allies.  

“Think of people like Roger Wicker, who is someone who is seen as a pretty solid guy who votes the right way but is not an extremist,” Baker said, identifying a senator who might have to watch his right flank. “There are constituencies that will respond to any demand that Trump puts out who will say, ‘I can’t support [a senator] unless he gets on the impeachment bandwagon.’ 

“But I don’t think any Republican who is up for reelection wants to have to do that,” he said.  

Baker said that Senate Republicans up for reelection don’t want to alienate the sizable share of the Republican electorate — which he estimates at about 25 percent of Republican voters — who don’t support Trump and don’t like the idea of GOP candidates embracing his scorched-earth tactics. 

One Senate Republican aide defended the Senate GOP leadership from Trump’s broadsides by pointing out that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a member of McConnell’s leadership team, played a key role in publicizing an FBI 1023 form that makes reference to unsubstantiated allegations that Biden was involved in a foreign bribery scheme.  

“We’re not in the majority, and we don’t have subpoena power. You see Chuck Grassley and [Sen. Ron] Johnson [R-Wis.] pulling the levers on oversight and whistleblowers,” the aide said.  

The form, which FBI investigators use to catalogue raw, unverified claims by informants, received little attention from other Republican senators.  

A second Senate Republican strategist who requested anonymity argued that Grassley has made important contributions to the House investigations of Biden’s, even if Senate Republican leaders have generally kept their distance.  

“I can’t imagine any House Republican would say that the stuff that Grassley has uncovered in his ongoing efforts is less important than what they’re doing. But I think it’s really a matter of, House Republicans are in the majority and have subpoena power and can do a lot more that Republicans in the Senate can,” the aide said.  

Updated at 7:23 a.m. ET.

Many Senate Republicans aren’t protecting Trump after Jan. 6 panel’s nod to criminal charges

Senate Republicans are stepping out of the way of the House Jan. 6 committee’s recommendation that the Justice Department prosecute former President Trump for crimes related to the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

GOP senators, especially those allied with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), say the Jan. 6 committee interviewed “credible” witnesses and added to the historical record in a substantial way, even though they have qualms about how Democrats have tried to use the panel’s findings to score political points.  

Now they say it’s up to Attorney General Merrick Garland or Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith to investigate or indict Trump, but they’re not waving federal prosecutors off from prosecuting the former president.  

“The entire nation knows who is responsible for that day,” McConnell said in a statement, pointing the finger squarely at Trump in response to the House Jan. 6 committee referring four criminal charges against Trump to the Justice Department.  

It was McConnell’s strongest statement blaming Trump for inciting a crowd to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, since he denounced him on the Senate floor in February of that year.  

“The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president,” he said in February 2021 after voting on technical grounds to acquit Trump during his second impeachment trial.  

Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said, “It’s up to Justice now.”  

Asked if he thought the committee had conducted a credible investigation of Trump, Thune replied, “They interviewed some credible witnesses.” 

Thune said the makeup of the panel was partisan because it comprised seven Democrats and only two anti-Trump Republicans, but he acknowledged, “They did interview a lot of folks that had a lot of knowledge of what happened and they were people who I think were very credible.”

Retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a member of McConnell’s leadership team, said the Jan. 6 committee’s final report, which will be made public Wednesday, is “important.” 

“I think the referrals are not as important as the report. The report’s important, even though it came out of a partisan process,” he said. 

“But the testimony is the testimony, and they were able to get the testimony from most of the people they wanted — not everybody but most — and I think most of the significant figures. That is the historical record,” Portman explained. “That’s very important.”  

The Jan. 6 panel on Monday made four criminal referrals alleging Trump incited insurrection, obstructed an official proceeding of Congress, conspired to defraud the United States and conspired to make a false statement.  

The referrals don’t require the Department of Justice to bring criminal charges against the former president, but they put more pressure on federal prosecutors to act.  

The panel also recommended the House Ethics Committee investigate House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and several allies — Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) — and what they did in the lead-up to and on the day of the attack on the Capitol.  

House Republicans are expected to dismantle the Jan. 6 panel after they take control of the chamber in January.  

Trump shrugged off the criminal referrals in a statement posted to Truth Social, his social media platform.  

“These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,” he posted.  

Former President Trump speaks at an event

Trump has announced a new bid for the White House, but it’s been clear for weeks amid a series of controversies surrounding Trump and a disappointing midterm election outcome for the GOP that a number of Republican senators would rather move on from the former president.

Only one Republican senator, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), has publicly endorsed Trump’s 2024 presidential bid.  

Others have raised concerns about Trump’s viability in the 2024 general election or blamed him for derailing their chances of winning key Senate races in Pennsylvania and Georgia this year.  

Republican senators speaking to the media on Monday did not entirely embrace the Jan. 6 panel, by any means, but most did not embrace Trump.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), another member of the Senate Republican leadership team, said she thought the Jan. 6 committee's investigation “was a political process” and that she had “never seen” Congress recommend the Justice Department prosecute someone before.  

But she added that Trump “bears some responsibility” for the attack on the U.S. Capitol.  

“I don’t see that this changes anything. Let’s get the Electoral Count Act passed. That will clear up some of the ambiguity that came about that day,” she said, referring to legislation the Senate will take up this week to clarify that the vice president has a solely ministerial role when Congress convenes in joint session to certify the results of a presidential election.  

The bill is intended to eliminate the possibility that a future president tries to get the vice president to throw out slates of electors when presiding over a joint session of Congress, as Trump pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to do on Jan. 6.   

McConnell, Thune, Portman and Capito all voted to acquit Trump after his second impeachment trial when he was charged with inciting insurrection. 

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

Many Senate Republicans, however, voted that way on technical grounds because Trump at the time of the trial was no longer in office.  

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who voted to convict Trump in both of his impeachment trials, said, “There’s no question that President Trump deserves culpability for inciting the riot on Jan. 6 and for failure to act to protect the vice president and the Capitol of the United States.”

“Whether there are criminal charges associated with that would have to be determined by experienced prosecutors, and that’s what the Justice Department will determine,” he said.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), who also voted to impeach Trump, said he would leave it up to federal prosecutors to decide what to do. 

“I am not a lawyer and certainly not a prosecutor,” he said, adding he wasn’t surprised about the recommendation to prosecute.

“I don’t know the legal basis of it, but you know what I think of what the president did that day,” he said.  

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, said she was not surprised by the criminal referral by the House committee.  

“Obviously they spent considerable time and [went into] great detail over many months they have investigated this,” she said. “It’s really up to [the Department of Justice] where they go next.” 

“I think it’s going to be important for us to read this report that will be coming out Wednesday,” she said.  

Asked about McConnell’s statement that the entire nation knows Trump is responsible for the Jan. 6 attack, Murkowski replied, “I agree. I voted to impeach him.”   

Mitt Romney Comes Out Against Hunter Biden Investigation – ‘A Waste of Time’ – Trump Calls Him a ‘Pathetic Joke’

Senator Mitt Romney is voicing opposition to Republican investigations into Hunter Biden, describing such affairs as a “waste of time.”

Romney (R-UT) ran to his fellow faux conservatives at The Bulwark to make his position known.

The outlet, which described the younger Biden, currently identified by federal agents as having enough evidence to charge him with multiple crimes, as little more than a “political bugbear,” notes that Romney is the only GOP lawmaker to break with his party on the matter.

“I think it’s really hard to know what the politics of a course of action might be in this day and age, to know where our party stands, what our base wants, what independent voters want,” Romney said.

“But I think you have to do what you think is right and I think the American people want us to tackle some of the big challenges we have—immigration, inflation, and so forth—and the other things that divert from those priorities I think are a waste of time.”

RELATED: Trump Slams ‘RINO’ Romney, Shares Message Claiming Mitt ‘Lost His Mind’

Romney: Hunter Biden Investigation a Waste of Time, January 6 Committee Not so Much

While it isn’t surprising that Mitt Romney would break with Republicans and jump to the defense of an embattled Democrat President and his scandal-plagued son, his reasoning is a bit of a shock.

A “waste of time”?

This is the same man who voted in favor of establishing the January 6 committee to investigate the riot at the Capitol. Has there been a more colossal waste of taxpayer money than that investigation, Mitt?

Romney, of course, also defended Nancy Pelosi after she initiated the first impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, something even Democrat Representative Jerry Nadler (NY) called “unconstitutional.”

“She’s able to do what she feels is right. That’s up to her,” Romney said in defending Pelosi at the time. “At this stage, the process is to continue to gather information but clearly what we’ve seen from the transcript itself is deeply troubling.”

Much like the January 6 committee, the first impeachment trial was also a ‘waste of time.’

Romney later voted to convict Trump of inciting an insurrection during the second impeachment trial.

RELATED: Mitt Romney Indicates He’ll Vote With Dems to Protect Hunter Biden From Subpoena

Voiced Concern About Going After Hunter Before

Romney has been seemingly protecting Hunter Biden from being dragged into investigatory avenues before.

In March of 2020, the Washington Post reported that Romney was poised to join Democrats and vote to squash a subpoena related to Hunter Biden’s work with the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma Holdings.

Though he later relented, his reasoning sounded awfully familiar.

“I would prefer that investigations are done by an independent, non-political body,” he claimed. “There’s no question the appearance is not good.”

Romney went on to tell reporters that the investigation “appears political.”

“I think people are tired of these kinds of political investigations.”

Romney did later join Republicans in voting in favor of the subpoena.

In a weekend comment on a separate matter, Trump described Romney as a “pathetic joke.”

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Trump says Mike Lee ‘abused’ by Romney

Former President Trump slammed Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Wednesday, accusing him of "abusing" his Utah colleague Sen. Mike Lee (R) following news that Romney has refrained from issuing an endorsement in Lee's reelection campaign.

"Mike Lee is an outstanding Senator who has been abused, in an unprecedented way, by a fellow Republican Senator from his own State, something which rarely has happened in political History," Trump said in a statement issued through his Save America PAC.

"Such an event would only be understandable if Mike did not perform his duties as a United States Senator, but he has, and he has performed them well," the former president continued.

Lee, who is in a tight race with Independent challenger Evan McMullin, appealed to Romney on Tuesday evening during a conversation with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, asking his colleague to help him win.

“Well, I’ve asked him. I’m asking him right here, again, tonight, right now. Mitt, if you’d like to protect the Republican majority, give us any chance of seizing the Republican majority, once again, getting it away from the Democrats, who are facilitating this massive spending spree in a massive inflationary binge, please get on board,” Lee said.

In his appeal, Lee mentioned that the contest between himself and McMullin, a former CIA officer, was getting tighter. According to nonpartisan handicapper Cook Political Report, the race is rated "likely Republican." However, recent polling shows that McMullin is closing the gap.

For his part, Romney said he's refrained from making an endorsement because he is friends with both Lee and McMullin, who left the Republican party in 2016 after Trump won the party's presidential nomination, and ran against him as an Independent.

“I’ve worked with Mike a lot and appreciate the work we do together. But both are good friends, and I’m going to stay out,” Romney said in a statement to The Hill.

Romney also caught Trump's ire after he voted to convict the former president of one count during his first impeachment trial and has been a critic of the Trump administration in the past. Trump has called Romney a "super RINO," or "Republican in name only."

On Wednesday, Trump said that McMullin did not represent the values of Utah, "but neither, as you will see in two years, does Mitt Romney, who refuses to endorse his fellow Republican Senator, Mike Lee."

"Mike Lee is outstanding and has my Complete and Total Endorsement. Mitt Romney and Evan McMuffin can count on the fact that they will never have my Endorsement!," he concluded.

Report: Mitt Romney Wears A Disguise In Public To Avoid Trump Supporters

Senator Mitt Romney allegedly wears a disguise when venturing out into public as a means to avoid Trump supporters.

This, according to excerpts from a new book titled, “This Will Not Pass,” written by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns.

Business Insider reports that Romney (R-UT) has been using an elaborate disguise when vacationing in Palm Beach, Florida where he owns a home.

And by ‘elaborate,’ we mean straight from the Marvel Universe school of disguises in which he’s been wearing hats while dining out in the wealthy town where former President Donald Trump also has a home.

“If he were recognized by Trump supporters there, there was a good chance he would be harassed,” a family friend told the authors.

RELATED: Trump Ally Sean Reyes Is Preparing To Primary Mitt Romney For Utah Senate Seat

Mitt Romney’s Disguise

The Salt Lake Tribune provides other interesting revelations from the book regarding Mitt Romney, crafty disguises aside.

According to the newspaper, Ann Romney, the Republican senator’s wife, says Trump’s feud with him has created such hostility amongst supporters that she has “severe doubts about whether any of their five sons could ever run for elected office as Republicans.”

A horrific fate, to be sure.

Last spring, Mitt Romney had boos and catcalls cascaded down upon him from well over 2,000 Republican delegates at the Utah Republican State Convention.

The Republican Party in Weber County, Utah, issued a formal censure of Romney for his multiple votes to convict Trump during his impeachment trials.

Trump issued a statement around that time calling the Utah senator “a stone-cold loser!”

In recent news, Romney has …

  • Blamed the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the Trump-touted concept of ‘America First.’
  • Joined Democrats as the only Republican to vote against repealing the transportation mask mandate.
  • Accused decorated Iraq War veteran and former Representative Tulsi Gabbard of being a Russian asset and spreading “treasonous lies.”

Gabbard demanded Romney resign over his comments.

“Senator Romney, please provide evidence that what I said is untrue and treasonous,” demanded Gabbard. “If you cannot, you should do the honorable thing: apologize and resign from the Senate.”

She later sent him a cease-and-desist letter and insisted he retract his statement.

RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard Demands Mitt Romney Resign After He Accuses Her Of ‘Treason’

Romney’s Alias

This isn’t the first time Mitt Romney has engaged in using disguises before.

The Senator also ran a fake Twitter account to attack Trump, using the name “Pierre Delecto.”

“As Delecto, Romney, who has become one of President Trump’s most vocal GOP critics, used the account to like critical tweets about the president, while also occasionally defending himself against detractors,” the Washington Post reported in 2019.

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Wearing disguises in public while sporting an online alter ego at home is not very becoming of a sitting U.S. senator.

In all fairness, Romney’s use of a disguise may be somewhat warranted considering last January, some supporters of President Trump confronted Romney as he sat quietly at an airport waiting area, with others chanting “traitor” later on the airplane.

If only he had been wearing a hat at the time, this never would have happened.

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Trump Lawyer Jenna Ellis Quits The Republican Party During Live Broadcast

Jenna Ellis, the former attorney for President Trump, quit the Republican Party during a live broadcast on the conservative news platform, “Real America’s Voice.”

Ellis said she is making the move because, in her mind, it’s clear the GOP does not – and did not – support the former President enough.

“Sure, the Republicans claim to be keeping Democrats in check, but only a handful of outsiders are actually speaking up,” she claimed. “The rest are compromising on everything.”

“The infrastructure bill, for example,” Ellis continued. “Or the second impeachment hoax, where [Senate GOP Leader Mitch] McConnell actually stood up and ranted against President Trump for his own political gain, not for the truth.”

The former Trump attorney’s announcement seems to have been spurred on by a recent spat with the Republican National Committee (RNC).

RELATED: Trump Lawyer Jenna Ellis Demands RNC Chair Resign – Claims They Abandoned Trump Then Lied About It

Jenna Ellis Quits The GOP

Late this past weekend, Jenna Ellis accused the RNC of lying about a story claiming the group’s chief counsel questioned electoral fraud claims.

The in-fighting exploded following a report regarding a new book by Michael Wolff which, in one excerpt, claimed Ellis received a forwarded note from RNC chief counsel Justin Riemer.

In emails obtained by The Hill, Riemer questioned colleagues who were backing Trump’s claims of election fraud during the 2020 election.

“What Rudy [Giuliani] and Jenna are doing is a joke and they are getting laughed out of court,” Riemer reportedly wrote in emails obtained by the Washington Post.

“They are misleading millions of people who have wishful thinking that the president is going to somehow win this thing,” he continued.

Ellis allegedly showed the message to the two people she was having dinner with at the time, one of whom was another attorney for the former President, Rudy Giuliani.

The book claims Giuliani was so incensed by the message that he called Riemer and delivered a profanity-laced demand to resign.

“Who the f*** do you you think you are? How can you be going against the president?” the book claims Giuliani said. “You need to resign and resign tonight … because you are going to get fired.”

Giuliani then purportedly called McDaniel to ensure he had been fired.

The RNC issued a statement insisting the story “is simply false.”

Ellis, however, said it was true and that she had the receipts to back it up. She demanded McDaniel resign.

RELATED: Trump Easily Wins CPAC Straw Poll – Warns Biden Bringing America ‘To the Brink of Ruin’ In Fiery Speech

Ellis Calls Out The RNC

The RNC, well after the incident in question took place in November, continued to raise money off Trump’s claims of election fraud.

Jenna Ellis, in her on-air speech in which she quit the Republican Party, addressed the perceived hypocrisy.

“What happened to the millions raised by the RNC in November and December of 2020?” she asked. “The Trump team never saw a dime of that help.”

“All of them, including Ronna McDaniel, should resign now,” she continued before announcing her departure.

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“Until they do, as of today, I am resigning from the party,” she declared. “A compromised, corrupted majority is not a majority worth being a part of.”

Riemer, who is still with the RNC despite Giuliani’s attempts to get him fired, insists that the committee did everything they could to support Trump without dabbling in election fraud conspiracies.

“Any suggestion that I did not support President Trump or do everything in my power to support the RNC’s efforts to reelect President Trump is false,” Riemer said in a statement to the Washington Post.

“I will say publicly now what I then said privately: I take issue with individuals who brought lawsuits that did not serve President Trump well and did not give him the best chance in court,” he added.

Regardless of Riemer’s assertion, which might very well be accurate, it’s clear the RNC tried to discredit the story only for the truth to have come out in an embarrassing fashion.

“If we genuinely want to create a more perfect union, we have to stand up for our principles against a corrupted machine of self-serving politicians in Washington,” Ellis said.

McDaniel, who is the niece of anti-Trump Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), has since purportedly blocked Ellis on Twitter.

 

 

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Lindsey Graham Warns Anti-Trump Republicans They’re Going To Wind Up ‘Getting Erased’

Senator Lindsey Graham said it’s impossible for the GOP to move forward without Donald Trump as its leader, warning that those trying to “erase” the party of the former President might themselves be “getting erased.”

Graham’s comments came just before House Republicans voted on Wednesday to remove Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) from leadership for lack of party unity and consistent attacks on Trump and his supporters.

The South Carolina Republican spoke earlier this week with Fox News host Sean Hannity regarding the future of the party.

“It’s impossible for this party to move forward without President Trump being its leader, because the people who are conservatives have chosen him as their leader,” Graham stated. “And you know why they chose him? Because he delivered.”

He then began listing off several conservative victories under the Trump administration – including national security, border security, tax cuts, and pride in America.

RELATED: Mitt Romney Claims That Removing Liz Cheney From Leadership Will Cost Republicans ‘Quite A Few’ Votes

Graham: Anti-Trump Republicans Are Going to End Up Getting Erased

Senator Lindsey Graham also issued an ominous warning against anti-Trump Republicans like Liz Cheney, Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL).

“The most popular Republican in America—it’s not Lindsey Graham, is not Liz Cheney, it’s Donald Trump,” he told Hannity.

“To try to erase Donald Trump from the Republican party is insane,” he added. “And the people who try to erase him are going to wind up getting erased.”

Graham went on to say that conservatives are disappointed that he lost the election because they “believe that Trump’s policies worked.”

RELATED: Trump Cheers Utah GOP That Booed ‘Stone-Cold Loser’ Mitt Romney, Rips ‘Big-Shot Warmonger’ Cheney

Cheney Ousted From GOP Leadership

Graham specifically commented on the embattled Representative Cheney whose leadership role was terminated on Wednesday.

Cheney was removed for her unwillingness to unite the party and instead attack Trump at every turn.

“I’ve always liked Liz Cheney but she’s made a determination that the Republican Party can’t grow with President Trump,” he said. “I’ve determined we can’t grow without him.”

Cheney has refused to unite a Republican party that includes Trump supporters. Instead, she insults them.

She has accused Trump voters of believing “the big lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, has gone after colleagues in her own party who supported the former President, and vowed to campaign on impeaching him “every day of the week.”

In an op-ed for the Washington Post last week, Cheney encouraged Republicans not to embrace Trump’s “cult of personality.”

That is not somebody who belongs in a leadership role.

Romney, as you might imagine, disagrees.

“Every person of conscience draws a line beyond which they will not go: Liz Cheney refuses to lie,” he asserted.

“As one of my Republican Senate colleagues said to me following my impeachment vote: ‘I wouldn’t want to be a member of a group that punished someone for following their conscience.'”

Trump issued a statement referring to Cheney as a “big-shot warmonger” and Romney as a “stone-cold loser.”

 

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Mitt Romney Claims That Removing Liz Cheney From Leadership Will Cost Republicans ‘Quite A Few’ Votes

On Monday, Sen. Mitt Romney claimed that removing the embattled anti-Trump Wyoming Republican Liz Cheney as House Republican Conference chair will hurt Republicans in upcoming elections.  

Romney wrote on Twitter, “Expelling Liz Cheney from leadership won’t gain the GOP one additional voter, but it will cost us quite a few.”

RELATED: Al Franken Accuses Trump Of Promoting ‘Disinformation’ That Is ‘Very, Very Dangerous’ And ‘Practically Treasonous’

Sen. Romney: ‘Liz Cheney Refuses To Lie’

These comments from the Utah Republican come in the wake of Romney recently praising Cheney.

“Every person of conscience draws a line beyond which they will not go: Liz Cheney refuses to lie,” Romney tweeted.

The senator added, “As one of my Republican Senate colleagues said to me following my impeachment vote: ‘I wouldn’t want to be a member of a group that punished someone for following their conscience.”

Vote To Remove Cheney Scheduled For Wednesday

Cheney is in hot water with her party for voting to impeach Donald Trump and continuing to publicly attack the former president, who is very popular with Republican voters.

Mrs. Cheney drew heat last Monday when she said that anyone who claims the 2020 presidential election was  “poisoning our democratic system.” 

Cheney added, in an obvious rebuke to Trump,  “The 2020 presidential election was not stolen.” 

She continued, “Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”

As Republicans hope to pick up House seats in 2022, leadership now believes that Cheney has become too much of a distraction and a liability.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) have now both announced they plan to support Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to replace Cheney as House Republican Conference chair.

A vote on this is scheduled to take place Wednesday.

McCarthy said on Fox News on Sunday, “To defeat Nancy Pelosi and the socialist agenda, we need to be united, and that starts with leadership. That’s why we will have a vote next week, and we want to be united and looking moving forward. I think that’s what will take place.” 

RELATED: GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy Endorses Elise Stefanik To Replace Liz Cheney, Vote Could Come By Wednesday

McCarthy: ‘What We Are Talking About, It’s A Position In leadership’

“Any member can take whatever position they believe in.,” McCarthy continued. “That’s what the voters vote on the individuals, and they make that decision.”

“What we are talking about, it’s a position in leadership,” McCarthy observed.

“We are in one of our biggest battles ever for this nation and the direction of whether this century will be ours,” he finished. “As conference chair, you have the most critical jobs of the messenger going forward.”

 

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Utah Republicans Censure Mitt Romney One Week After Booing Him At State GOP Convention

The Republican Party in Weber County, Utah, issued a formal censure of Senator Mitt Romney for his multiple votes to convict former President Donald Trump during his impeachment trials.

The move comes a little over a week after Romney was booed vociferously at the Utah Republican Party’s organizing convention.

“The Weber County Republican Convention censures Mitt Romney for his votes to convict President Trump in two U.S. Senate impeachment trials,” the censure reads.

The censure resolutions claims both impeachment efforts “denied the President due process, allowed falsified evidence, did not provide adequate time for an investigation, and did not follow the U.S. Constitution…”

The censure resolution was passed by a vote of 116-97.

RELATED: Trump Cheers Utah GOP That Booed ‘Stone-Cold Loser’ Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney Censure Vote Fails

The successful vote to censure Mitt Romney comes after a similar effort fell short at the Utah state GOP convention on May 1st.

That vote failed by a tally of 798-711.

What the Utah Republican convention did succeed in doing, however, was making headlines by reigning boos down on the anti-Trump senator as he attempted to speak.

“I don’t hide the fact that I wasn’t a fan of our last president’s character issues,” Romney told the crowd as the booing grew ever louder.

“Aren’t you embarrassed?” he asked the Trump supporters.

RELATED: Mitt Romney Is Awarded JFK ‘Profile In Courage Award’ For Impeachment Vote

Trump: He’s A ‘Stone-Cold Loser’

Trump could hardly contain his excitement when seeing that Romney had been shouted down at the Utah Republican convention.

He issued a statement about the incident shortly thereafter.

“So nice to see RINO Mitt Romney booed off the stage at the Utah Republican State Convention,” Trump said.

“They are among the earliest to have figured this guy out, a stone-cold loser!” he added.

ABC 4 reports that nearly 600 Weber County Republican delegates attended the Utah convention, both in-person or online.

Weber County GOP Chairman Jake Sawyer believes the vote to censure was “respectful.”

“From the top down, we need to be able to voice our opinions agree with each other, and still come up with a solution at the end of the day,” said Sawyer.

He did admit that the vote is little more than symbolic.

Weber County becomes the second to pass a censure resolution against Romney in Utah, joining Washington County in April.

The news for the Senate Republican hasn’t been all bad since he joined Democrats in trying to impeach Trump on frivolous charges.

He was awarded the Profile in Courage Award by the John F. Kennedy Library for his “historic vote” to impeach Trump during his first trial.

“He reminds us that our Democracy depends on the courage, conscience and character of our elected officials,” Caroline Kennedy, former Ambassador and daughter of President Kennedy, said in a statement.

Shortly after the election, conservative actor Scott Baio threatened to move to Utah and run against Mitt Romney in an effort to unseat the Republican senator.

 

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