“I don’t think I’ve gotten any guidance,” Portman said. “Colleagues have stood up and expressed their views, but they’re not representing leadership. . [McConnell] has said, I think this is a vote of conscience. ”
McConnell declined to respond to questions Wednesday about whether he was open to convicting the former president, whom he aligned closely with during Trump’s tenure in the White House.
The GOP leader has described himself as undecided and told reporters during a recent press conference that he was waiting to hear the arguments at trial. Asked if he was still undecided on Wednesday, a spokesman pointed back to his remarks about wanting to hear the case.
The 145-61 vote in favor of keeping Cheney in leadership, conducted by secret ballot, followed a marathon closed-door “family discussion” in the basement of the Capitol Visitor Center, where dozens of House Republicans lined up to voice their frustrations with the Wyoming representative, the most powerful GOP woman in Congress, and called for her removal as conference chair, a role that entails leading the party’s messaging efforts.
The vote was the latest and most dramatic manifestation of the civil war raging within the GOP over the direction the party should take in the post-Trump era, a debate that has become increasingly contentious following the deadly attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“The Lincoln Project has had no interaction with Congresswoman Cheney,” the never Trump GOP super PAC said in a statement. “That said, we think she d take Matt Gaetz in a fight with one hand tied behind her back.
The organization issued the statement in response to what it said were “rumor[s] circulating” about coordination with Cheney, the highest-ranking House Republican to vote in favor of Trump’s impeachment in January.
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“This is yet another baseless lie being spread by the Jim Crow Caucus and its leader [House Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy
“It s telling that Republican leadership spends more time focusing on an imaginary alliance than it does exposing and condemning the QAnon conspiracies being spread by members of their own caucus,” the statement added, an apparent reference to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene