Biden on GOP move to oust Liz Cheney: 'I don’t understand the Republicans'

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President Biden said Wednesday that he didn’t understand Republican efforts in the U.S. House of Representatives to replace Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., over her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump and refusal to promote the disproven notion that the 2020 election was marred by fraud.

“I don’t understand the Republicans,” Biden said when asked by a reporter to comment on the move to oust Cheney from her No. 3 leadership position in the GOP caucus.

Later, when delivering a press briefing on the administration's plan to help restaurants that have suffered during the pandemic, Biden was asked about his comment.

"It seems as if the Republican Party is trying to identify what it stands for, and they're in the midst of a significant mini-revolution going on in the Republican Party," Biden said, adding, "I think the Republicans are further away from trying to figure out who they are and what they stand for than I thought they would be at this point."

Biden’s assessment contrasts with the remarks he made about bipartisanship before his inauguration, when he vowed he would be able to work with Republicans.

“My leverage is, every senior Republican knows I’ve never once, ever, misled them,” Biden said in a December interview with the New York Times. “I’ll never publicly embarrass them.”

President Biden, wearing a black face mask, leaves a restaurant holding white paper bags
President Biden leaves a restaurant located in northeast Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

Since taking office, Biden has found bipartisanship to be an elusive reality, as many Republicans continue to peddle what Democrats and Cheney herself have dubbed “the Big Lie” — President Trump’s false claims that election fraud cost him the election. Republican state legislatures have also pursued or passed bills that critics say are aimed at making voting harder, especially for minority communities that have traditionally supported Democrats.

Not a single Republican in the House or Senate voted in favor of Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, and resistance to the president’s infrastructure package has been nearly as uniform.

Since the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol by Trump’s supporters, Cheney has been an outspoken critic of the former president, and she voted to impeach Trump on the single charge of “incitement of insurrection.”

“We can’t embrace the notion the election is stolen. It’s a poison in the bloodstream of our democracy,” Cheney said on Tuesday. “We can’t whitewash what happened on January 6 or perpetuate Trump’s big lie. It is a threat to democracy. What he did on January 6 is a line that cannot be crossed.”

Liz Cheney shakes hands with Mitch McConnell, both wearing face masks
Liz Cheney shakes hands with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell ahead of President Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst/Pool)

Trump, meanwhile, has formally endorsed Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., as Cheney’s replacement within the GOP caucus leadership.

“Liz Cheney is a warmongering fool who has no business in Republican Party Leadership. We want leaders who believe in the Make America Great Again movement, and prioritize the values of America First,” Trump said in a Wednesday statement. “Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement for GOP Conference Chair. Elise is a tough and smart communicator!”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appears to be frustrated with Cheney’s outspoken stance on Trump. “I’ve had it with her,” McCarthy said Tuesday in hot mic comments leaked to Axios.

While Trump’s grip on the party remains strong, notable conservative outlets like the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board fear the internecine battle.

“Republicans will look foolish, or worse, to swing voters if they refight 2020 in 2022,” the board wrote in an editorial published Tuesday, which concluded that “Purging Liz Cheney for honesty would diminish the party.”

That backdrop may help explain Biden’s exasperation with the state of bipartisanship in Washington.

“Everybody talks about, can I do anything bipartisan?” Biden said during a meeting with TV anchors ahead of last week’s joint address to Congress. “Well, I got to figure out if there’s a party to deal with. We need a Republican Party. ... We need another party, whatever you call it, that’s unified — not completely splintered and fearful of one another.”

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