WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell has praised embattled No. 3 House Republican Liz Cheney as “a leader with deep convictions and courage,” even as he’s criticized the “looney lies” of a hard-right House GOP freshman as a “cancer” on the party.
Scores of conservative House Republicans are seeking to oust Cheney, R-Wyoming, from her leadership post after she supported the chamber’s impeachment of then-President Donald Trump.
And Democrats are pushing to remove freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., from her committee assignments after reports of social media posts backing baseless assertions that some mass shootings at schools were staged. She’s also encouraged violence against Democratic politicians.
It is unusual for the guarded McConnell, R-Ky., to publicly weigh in on political turmoil in the House. His comments suggest concerns about letting the GOP’s most pro-Trump, hardest-right factions gain too much sway in the party.
McConnell has all but broken with Trump following the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that led to five deaths. The Kentuckian is also still haunted by winnable Senate races that Republicans lost after nominating fringe candidates who lost their general elections.