周四晚上，众议院共和党人准备闭门造车，听取竞争怀俄明州众议员利兹·切尼(Liz Cheney)之前担任的第三号职位的候选人的意见。利兹·切尼在采访中表示，她可能会竞选总统，以保住前总统的职位。唐纳德·特朗普走出白宫。
预计共和党成员将于周五上午闭门会议，选举新的会议主席，纽约众议员Elise Stefanik仍是主要候选人，尽管一些成员对她的保守派资历不满意。
在全国广播公司的“今天”节目三次被问及是否会竞选总统以阻止特朗普夺回椭圆形办公室并“恢复”共和党，切尼没有排除这种可能性，只是说她会“不惜一切代价”
“我非常关注确保我们的政党再次成为一个代表真理和保守的基本原则的政党，”她说。“我不会让前总统或其他任何人破坏民主。”
前副总统迪克·切尼的女儿，几周来因没有呼吁特朗普推进共和党议程而面临党内批评，发微博周四采访的一个片段，但是很明显她的议程是反拜登的。
“我们对未来的愿景必须建立在政策和实质的基础上，要做到这一点，我们必须接受事实，”总统说标题说。
这位怀俄明州的代表说，她“绝对”会在2022年竞选连任。她还说，少数党领袖凯文·麦卡锡“现在没有以原则领导”，称他的例子“可悲”和“危险”。
切尼继续说:“鉴于前总统的所作所为，麦卡锡领导人对前总统马拉拉戈的访问确实令人震惊。”。“他挑起了对国会大厦的攻击——对我们民主的攻击——所以我不明白你为什么要去平反他。”
“我会尽我所能确保这位前总统永远不会再靠近椭圆形办公室，”众议员利兹·切尼在受到前总统的批评后被逐出众议院共和党领导层后不久说。特朗普。https://t.co/FSzH0yY555pic.twitter.com/ilA6bTJF6F
——美国广播公司新闻政治(@美国广播公司政治)2021年5月12日
斯特凡尼克将特朗普的“弥天大谎”和挑战结果推到了2020年选举，仍然是接替切尼担任新会议主席的领先者候选人，一些批评她的记录的保守派正在推动推迟投票，并寻找一个历史不太温和的替代提名人。斯特凡尼克星期四将会见保守的自由核心小组成员，试图解决这些问题。
至少有一名保守的共和党人，德克萨斯州的众议员奇普·罗伊，似乎在权衡他是否会挑战斯特凡尼克，他的团队周三告诉美国广播公司新闻，“这必须是一场有争议的比赛，而不是加冕。”
任何众议院共和党人都可以参加竞选，但斯特凡尼克已经得到特朗普的支持和共和党领导层的认可，她告诉国会山记者，她有信心获得当选会议主席所需的选票，即使有人参加竞选。
麦卡锡周日支持斯特凡尼克(Stefanik)，她将切尼(Cheney)解除领导职务称为团结的问题，但剥夺她这一职务的政党可能在延续这一信息方面更无效——因为切尼现在可以在不受领导职务限制的情况下使用她的麦克风批评特朗普。预计她将在未来几周坐下来接受更多采访。
切尼的下台和斯特凡尼克的提升是在共和党内更主流的时候发生的——尽管同样是错误的——接受了选举被“操纵”的观点，并将国会大厦的袭击重新描述为与前总统无关。
周四，在叛乱发生地国会山举行的众议院监督和改革委员会听证会上，几位国会共和党人淡化了1月6日暴乱者的威胁，试图改写历史。佐治亚州众议员安德鲁·克莱德(Andrew Clyde)将这一事件比作“正常的旅游事件”，亚利桑那州众议员保罗·戈萨尔(Paul Gosar)不断宣扬选举被盗的虚假说法，指责司法部“骚扰全国各地的和平爱国者”。
切尼在周四的采访中表示，支持一个委员会调查1月6日之前的事件，并暗示共和党中不支持委员会的人可能在隐瞒什么。
“这种强烈而狭隘的关注威胁到了我们党内的人，他们可能扮演了一个他们不应该扮演的角色，”她说。
周三的听证会正在进行，切尼被赶下台后不久，麦卡锡告诉白宫记者，“我认为没有人质疑总统选举的合法性。一切都结束了。”
美国广播公司新闻后来问及特朗普是否在同一页上，鉴于他离任后发表的挑战选举舞弊的声明，麦卡锡偏转说，“这是特朗普总统。”
“在这个会议中，做会议主席的工作是为了传递信息。这与某人如何投票无关，”他继续说道。“这就是最擅长传递信息的人。”
斯特凡尼克可能会传达这一信息，他是147名投票推翻选举结果的共和党人之一，并在国会山袭击(Capitol attacK)后的一次发言中为质疑结果进行了辩护。她表示完全支持共和党支持的对亚利桑那州选举结果的有争议的审计，选举专家担心这将进一步削弱对选举进程的信心。
值得注意的是，在斯特凡尼克的公共场合音高对于周四发布的职位，她没有向同事提及前总统或2020年大选。
Cheney won't rule out running for president to stop Trump
House Republicans were poised to gather behind closed doors Thursday evening to hear from candidates vying to fill the No. 3 role previously held by Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who signaled in an interview she might run for president in order to keep former PresidentDonald Trumpout of the White House.
GOP members are expected to meet behind closed doors Friday morning to elect a new conference chair, with New York Rep. Elise Stefanik remaining the leading candidate, despite some members not satisfied with her conservative credentials.
On NBC's"Today" show, asked three times if she would run for president to stop Trump from regaining the Oval Office and to "restore" the GOP, Cheney did not rule it out, saying only she would do "whatever it takes."
"I'm very focused on making sure that our party becomes again a party that stands for truth and stands for fundamental principles that are conservative," she said. "And I won't let a former president or anybody else unravel the democracy."
The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who faced criticism from within her party for weeks for not furthering the Republican agenda by calling out Trump,tweeteda clip of the interview Thursday, but notably framed her agenda as an anti-Biden one.
"Our vision for the future has to be based on policy and substance, and to do that we must embrace the truth," thecaptionsaid.
The Wyoming representative, who said she is "absolutely" running for reelection to the House in 2022, also said Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy "is not leading with principle right now," calling his example "sad" and "dangerous."
"Leader McCarthy's visit to the former president, Mar-a-Lago, was really stunning given what the former president did," Cheney continued. "He provoked an attack on the Capitol -- an attack on our democracy -- and so I can't understand why you would want to go rehabilitate him."
"I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office," Rep. Liz Cheney says shortly after being ousted from House GOP leadership amid criticism of former Pres. Trump.https://t.co/FSzH0yY555pic.twitter.com/ilA6bTJF6F
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics)May 12, 2021
While Stefanik, who has pushed Trump's "big lie" and challenged results to the 2020election, remains the frontrunner candidate to replace Cheney as the new conference chair, some conservatives critical of her record are pushing to delay the vote and find an alternative nominee with a less moderate history. Stefanik is meeting with members of the conservative Freedom Caucus Thursday in an attempt to address those concerns.
At least one conservative Republican, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, appears to be weighing whether he'll challenge Stefanik, with his team telling ABC News on Wednesday, "This must be a contested race -- not a coronation."
Any House Republican is allowed to enter the race, but already carrying Trump's support and the endorsement of GOP leadership, Stefanik has told Capitol Hill reporters she's confident she has the votes needed to be elected conference chair, even if someone else jumps in the race.
While McCarthy, who endorsed Stefanik on Sunday, has branded the removal of Cheney from her leadership post as an issue of unity, the party stripping her of the position may prove more ineffective in perpetuating that message -- as Cheney can now use her microphone to criticize Trump without the confines of a leadership position. She's expected to sit down for more interviews in the coming weeks.
Cheney's ousting and Stefanik's ascension come as it's more mainstream in the Republican Party -- though no less false -- to take up the view that the election was "rigged" and recast the Capitol attack as having nothing to do with the former president.
At a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill, the site of the insurrection, several congressional Republicans downplayed the threat of the Jan. 6 rioters in an attempt to rewrite history. Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde likened the event to "a normal tourist event" and Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, who has constantly promoted false claims the election was stolen, accused the Justice Department of "harassing peaceful patriots around the country."
Cheney, on Thursday's interview, expressed support for a commission to look into the events leading up to Jan. 6 and suggested those in the GOP who don't support one may be hiding something.
"That kind of intense, narrow focus threatens people in my party who may have been playing a role they should not have been playing," she said.
While Wednesday's hearing was underway, shortly after Cheney was ousted from leadership, McCarthy told White House reporters, "I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. That's all over with."
Asked by ABC News later if Trump is on that same page, given the statements he's released since leaving office challenging election fraud, McCarthy deflected, saying, "That's President Trump."
"Inside this conference, to do the conference chair job is about the messaging going forward. This has nothing to do about how somebody voted," he continued. "This is simply who's best at delivering the message."
Stefanik, likely to deliver that message, was among the 147 Republicans who voted to overturn election results and defended questioning results in a floor speech after the Capitol attacK. She has expressed full support for the controversial Republican-backed audit of election results in Arizona, which election experts have worried will further undermine confidence in the electoral process.
Notably, in Stefanik's publicpitchto her colleagues for the position released Thursday, she made no mention of the former president or the 2020 election.
