The Carbon County Republican Party has voted to formally censure U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney after she voted to impeach President Donald Trump last week.
“The Carbon County Republican Party has unanimously voted to formally censure U.S. Representative Liz Cheney,” party chairman Joey Correnti IV said in a statement.
A censure is an expression of disapproval and has no binding effect on its subject.
Cheney voted to impeach the president, who will leave office on Wednesday as President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated, after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Cheney said at the time that her vote was based on the fact she believed Trump had incited the mob to action.
In the censure, Correnti and the party said Cheney voted to impeach without any quantifiable evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors.
Many Congressional leaders have criticized Trump for his comments regarding his refusal to concede to Biden, saying he incited the riot at the Capitol. Five people died as a result of the attack.
“Additionally, we have called for her to appear before the members of the (Carbon County Republican Party) to explain her recent actions to the body, the State Republican Party membership and the entirety of the concerned Wyoming electorate,” Correnti said.
The party also accused Cheney of violating the trust of her voters and failing to faithfully represent a large majority of Wyoming voters, 70% of whom voted for Trump in the November election.
Correnti has been a controversial figure in Wyoming politics. Last year, he was involved in a fistfight at the Wyoming Republican Party convention.
According to published reports, Correnti got into an altercation with Michael Pearce, then chairman of the Albany County Republican Party. Pearce was accused of striking Correnti and witnesses said Correnti restrained Pearce until police could arrive.
Cheney has repeatedly said that her decision to impeach the president came from her conscience, not her political beliefs.
“There are times when those of us as elected officials are called on to act in a way that does not take politics into consideration,” she previously said. “Dealing with something as serious and as grave as the attack on the Capitol is one of those times.”
This isn’t the first group to openly criticize Cheney for her vote.
Last week, the Wyoming Gun Owners Association blasted both her and U.S. Sen. John Barrasso for their criticism of the president, although the latter hasn’t publicly said whether or not he will vote to impeach Trump when the Senate meets.
The Wyoming Republican Party also condemned her decision to impeach.
“Representative Cheney has aligned herself with leftists who are screaming that what happened last Wednesday is the ‘worst thing ever in our history’ (or similar such claims). That is absurd and shows their lack of knowledge of history as well as their willingness to skew the facts to further their corrupt agenda,” the Wyoming GOP said in a statement.
