House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) — who is facing possible ouster from her leadership position next week — 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 Trump’s former Defense Secretary James Mattis, as well as Cheney’s 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.
“’She was the one who generated it, because she was so worried about what Trump might do,’ Eric Edelman, a friend of Cheney’s and former adviser to her father, told the New Yorker. “It speaks to the degree that she was concerned about the threat to our democracy that Trump represented.”
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
“As senior Defense Department leaders have noted, ‘there’s no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election,’” the op-ed said.
“Efforts 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 — who has repeatedly hammered Trump for his claims he won the 2020 election — also circulated a 21-page memo ahead of the certification of the election urging colleagues not to challenge the results, the magazine reports.
“Such objections set an exceptionally dangerous precedent, threatening to steal states’ explicit constitutional responsibility for choosing the President and bestowing it instead on Congress. This is directly at odds with the Constitution’s clear text and our core beliefs as Republicans,” the memo said
But despite her calls, 147 congressional Republicans — 138 in the House and seven in the Senate— 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 conference’s vote to remove her from her post with conservatives alleging her “Never Trump” 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 “Fox News Primetime” Wednesday that “the votes are there” to remove Cheney as House Republican Conference chair.
And Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) — the former chair of the moderate Tuesday Group who later because one of Trump’s most vocal defenders during the first impeachment proceedings — 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.
Cheney’s 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.
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