Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Thursday congratulated Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) for holding onto her conference chair position. The top Senate Republican was tight-lipped, however, about a decision by House GOP leadership that no action would be taken against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) for endorsing violence against Democratic lawmakers and promoting deranged conspiracy theories.
According to a Capitol Hill pool report a day after the House GOP met for a closed-door conference meeting, McConnell told reporters that he applauded Cheney for “a landslide victory. It must be very satisfying to her, and it was a great win.”
The vote came after Trump loyalists have for weeks demanded Cheney step down from her position as the No. 3 House Republican after voting to impeach former President Trump last month.
McConnell had previously defended Cheney in a statement earlier this week, lauding her as “a leader with deep convictions and the courage to act on them.”
When prodded for a reaction on a refusal from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) during Wednesday’s meeting to remove Greene from committee assignments over her past statements, McConnell declined to answer.
McConnell’s had issued a blistering statement on Monday condemning a “cancer” of conspiracy theories that has infiltrated the GOP.
While he did not name Greene directly, he admonished those who embrace “loony lies and conspiracy theories.” McConnell added in the Monday statement that “somebody” who adheres to many of the bogus conspiracies espoused and endorsed by Greene “is not living in reality.”
The House is expected to vote Thursday on a measure to remove her from her committee assignments over comments for which she has shown little remorse.
