Liz Cheney Vows To Keep Donald Trump From Getting 'Anywhere Near' the White House After GOP Vote

By Lauren Giella On 5/12/21 at 10:10 AM EDT

After House Republicans voted to oust Rep. Liz Cheney from her positions as the number three GOP leader on Wednesday, Cheney doubled down on her criticism of former President Donald Trump and vowed to keep him away from the White House.

"I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office," she told reporters.

Trump responded to Cheney's removal from leadership by calling her a "bitter, horrible human being."

"I watched her yesterday and realized how bad she is for the Republican Party," he said in a statement. "She has no personality or anything good having to do with politics or our Country. She is a talking point for Democrats...She is a warmonger whose family stupidly pushed us into the never-ending Middle East Disaster, draining our wealth and depleting our Great Military, the worst decision in our Country's history. I look forward to soon watching her as a Paid Contributor on CNN or MSDNC!"

Liz Cheney Ousted by GOP — Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks to reporters after House Republicans voted to oust her from her leadership post as chair of the House Republican Conference because of her repeated criticism of former President Donald Trump for his false claims of election fraud and his role in instigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below:

Republican leaders punished Cheney after she repeatedly rebuked former Trump for his false claims of election fraud and his role in fomenting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Meeting behind closed doors for less than 20 minutes, GOP lawmakers used a voice vote to remove Cheney, R-Wyo., from the party's No. 3 House position, a jarring turnabout to what's been her fast-rising career within the party.

She was Congress' highest-ranking Republican woman and is a daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and her demotion was the latest evidence that challenging Trump can be career-threatening.

Cheney has refused to stop repudiating Trump and defiantly signaled after the meeting that she intended to use her overthrow to try pointing the party away from the former president.

Cheney's replacement was widely expected to be Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who entered the House in 2015 at age 30, then the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Stefanik owns a more moderate voting record than Cheney but has evolved into a vigorous Trump defender who's echoed some of his unfounded claims about widespread election cheating.