On Wednesday, House Republicans voted to oust Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming from her House leadership position for not capitulating to former President Donald Trump's lie that the 2020 election was "stolen" by Democrats through widespread election fraud.
Cheney was one of the few Republican lawmakers to note then-President Trump's responsibility for the January 6 Capitol Riots with his rampant disinformation and constant violent rhetoric. Cheney voted to impeach him for inciting an insurrection and continues to refute his election conspiracy theories.
Hours after House Republicans voted to remove Cheney, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) emerged from an Oval Office meeting with President Joe Biden and Congressional leadership regarding the President's infrastructure bill.
McCarthy was met with questions regarding Cheney's ouster, and he made an absurd claim in the process.
Watch below.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, hours after ousting Rep. Liz Cheney from leadership: "I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. That's all over with. We are sitting here with the president today."pic.twitter.com/VK0aohLipa— The Recount (@The Recount) 1620839017
McCarthy said:
"I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. That's all over with. We are sitting here with the president today."
McCarthy's statement is heavily contradicted by reality.
First and foremost, the former President continues to smear the election as illegitimate, lying as recently as this past Monday that it was "the greatest Election Fraud in the history of our Country." Trump has claimed the election was fraudulent no fewer than five times in the past week alone.
People didn't hesitate to remind McCarthy of the election's most prominent objector.
I guess in this context Trump doesn't count as "anybody."https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1392525883060236289\u00a0\u2026— Steven Dennis (@Steven Dennis) 1620839425
McCarthy still isn't reading Trump's tweets/WordPress postspic.twitter.com/GVhYhyGsjU— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1620838892
House Leader McCarthy at WH just said: I don't think anyone is questioning the legitimacy of president.\n\nFACT CHECK: President Trump is continuing to question the legitimacy of President Biden. And, today Rep Liz Cheney was ousted from leadership for pushing back on Trump's lies.— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche Alcindor) 1620839620
McCarthy will be heading to Mar-A-Lago within days to reassure Trump he was only kidding.https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1392525883060236289\u00a0\u2026— Doug Demmons (@Doug Demmons) 1620842895
6 days ago: The 2020 election was "the greatest fraud in the History of our country..." (Donald Trump) https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1392525883060236289\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/nufPwquaiw— Pierre Asselin (@Pierre Asselin) 1620840564
@GOPLeader Your master (the former president) continues to lie about the election being fraudulent. And you bow to him. So yeah, YOU and your traitorous members continue to perpetuate The Big Lie.https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1392525883060236289\u00a0\u2026— nolene fabre (@nolene fabre) 1620839587
Some even said that McCarthy claiming the election wasn't in dispute would make him vulnerable to Trump's wrath.
Trump will hear this, grow enraged, and the mob will turn on McCarthy, who literally hours earlier worked to oust Liz Cheney from leadership for saying the exact same thing. The revolution will eat its young.https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1392525883060236289\u00a0\u2026— Julie Roginsky (@Julie Roginsky) 1620841171
Somebody show this to Trump. Maybe he\u2019ll start calling for McCarthy\u2019s leadership next. (In case he doesn\u2019t understand the obvious pose going on here.)https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1392525883060236289\u00a0\u2026— Eric Kleefeld (@Eric Kleefeld) 1620842675
Don't tell (The Other Guy) this. https://twitter.com/KellyO/status/1392525159416881155\u00a0\u2026— Joey Poirier (@Joey Poirier) 1620842375
Trump's Republican supporters in Congress are standing by the former President's fantasies, with Republican Representative and prominent conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia casting doubt that Biden "really won" and absurdly claiming Trump was still her President. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado implied that the election was "hacked" in a Monday tweet.
