New York Post House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) â who is facing possible ouster from her leadership position next week â quietly orchestrated a Washington Post op-ed by 10 living former defense secretaries cautioning that then-President Trump might attempt to politicize the military, according to a report.
Th op-ed, published three days before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, was signed by Trumpâs former Defense Secretary James Mattis, as well as Cheneyâs father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and fellow ex-Pentgagon chiefs Ashton Carter, William Cohen, Mark Esper, Robert Gates, Chuck Hagel, Leon Panetta, William Perry and Donald Rumsfeld.
ââShe was the one who generated it, because she was so worried about what Trump might do,â Eric Edelman, a friend of Cheneyâs and former adviser to her father, told the New Yorker. âIt speaks to the degree that she was concerned about the threat to our democracy that Trump represented.â
The joint Washington Post opinion piece called for the Trump administration to move forward with a peaceful transfer of power, strongly urging against involving military officials in their efforts to refute the election results
âAs senior Defense Department leaders have noted, âthereâs no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election,ââ the op-ed said.
âEfforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory. Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.
The Wyoming Republican â who has repeatedly hammered Trump for his claims he won the 2020 election â also circulated a 21-page memo ahead of the certification of the election urging colleagues not to challenge the results, the magazine reports.
âSuch objections set an exceptionally dangerous precedent, threatening to steal statesâ explicit constitutional responsibility for choosing the President and bestowing it instead on Congress. This is directly at odds with the Constitutionâs clear text and our core beliefs as Republicans,â the memo said
But despite her calls, 147 congressional Republicans â 138 in the House and seven in the Senateâ objected to the certification of at least one state.
The news of her efforts on the op-ed comes just days ahead of the House Republican conferenceâs vote to remove her from her post with conservatives alleging her âNever Trumpâ hinders her ability to message for the conference.
And it could well be the final nail in her coffin, politically, as the GOP appears set to shift further toward a Trump-led party heading into the 2022 midterm elections.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, told âFox News Primetimeâ Wednesday that âthe votes are thereâ to remove Cheney as House Republican Conference chair.
And Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) â the former chair of the moderate Tuesday Group who later because one of Trumpâs most vocal defenders during the first impeachment proceedings â appears to be the likely successor to Cheney.
Cheney survived a vote to remove her from the leadership back in February, shortly after her decision to vote in favor of impeaching the president for inciting the riot at the Capitol, which resulted in multiple fatalities.
While she overwhelmingly prevailed in the first vote, GOP lawmakers said the climate has shifted, with a sizable number of her House colleagues voicing grievances about her continued rebukes of Trump, with her critics alleging it is hindering her ability to lead their messaging efforts.
Cheneyâs ouster has the support of other members of the leadership team, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, the latter of which endorsed Stefanik shortly after Trump this week.
The House Republican conference is expected to hold the vote on May 12.
