Biden bemused by GOP infighting over Liz Cheney: ‘I don’t understand the Republicans’

<p>President Joe Biden has said he “doesn’t understand Republicans” after being asked about what he thought about the current discussion about Representative Liz Cheney</p> (Getty Images)

President Joe Biden has said he “doesn’t understand Republicans” after being asked about what he thought about the current discussion about Representative Liz Cheney

(Getty Images)
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President Joe Biden expressed bemusement on Wednesday over the ongoing conflict between US Rep Liz Cheney and rank-and-file Republican members of Congress.

“I don’t understand the Republicans,” Mr Biden told reporters when when asked about the internal dispute in the GOP.

Earlier on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel, an institutionalist and ally of Ms Cheney, changed the topic when asked about the spat.

“We are confronted with severe challenges from the new administration and a narrow majority in the House and a 50-50 Senate to turn America into a socialist country and that’s 100 percent my focus,” he said, according to CNN.

The latest rift in the Republican Party shows the disconnect between anti-Trump Republicans who want the party to move on from its divisive leader and the pro-Trump lawmakers eager to boost the former president’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Notably, Ms Cheney was outspoken about Mr Trump’s incitement of the 6 January insurrection at the Capitol, which secured Mr Trump the dishonor of being the only US president to be impeached twice. Ms Cheney was one of 10 congressional Republicans who voted to impeach him, and the most senior.

Other figures within the party, such as Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, have expressed support for Trumpian beliefs, such as the unfounded claims that the 2020 US election had widespread voter fraud.

Mr Biden is not the first senior Democrat to speak out against the apparent plot to remove Liz Cheney from her leadership roles within the Republican party. On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sent out a statement, joking about the fear that Republicans have about Cheney, one of the most powerful women in Republican politics.

“Word is out that House GOP Leaders are looking to push Rep. Liz Cheney from her post as House Republican Party Chair - the most senior woman in GOP leadership - for a litany of very Republican reasons: she won’t lie, she isn’t humble enough, she’s like a girlfriend rooting for the wrong team, and more,” the tongue-in-cheek statement from Ms Pelosi said.

Ms Cheney’s days in House Republican leadership appear numbered. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California told Fox News on Tuesday that members of his party were “concerned” with Cheney’s ability to carry out her responsibilities.

“There’s no concern about how she voted on impeachment. That decision has been made. I have heard from members concerned about her ability to carry out the job as conference chair - to carry that message,” Mr McCarthy said.

Another member of the Republican party reportedly claimed recently that issues with the congresswoman have reached “boiling point”.

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