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Who is Liz Cheney? House Republicans' No. 3, daughter of a VP, Trump critic

WASHINGTON —Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, ostracized by the GOP for her defiance of former President Donald Trump, has taken on a starring role in the investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as the top Republican on the committee.

Cheney lost her post as the head of the House GOP conference after refusing to accept Trump as the center of the Republican Party and endorse his false claims of election fraud.

She was one of 10 Republicans in the House to vote for Trump's impeachment over his alleged incitement of the riot, and she has remained firm in her belief that Trump's rhetoric led to the violence.

As the top Republican on the House Jan. 6 committee, Cheney has continued to stand up to Trump, calling out alleged intimidation of committee witnesses from the former president's circle and standing against their efforts to discredit a key witness.

Cheney called Trump a "domestic threat" during a speech Wednesday in California where she urged Republicans to reject him.

"We have to choose, because Republicans cannot both be loyal to Donald Trump and loyal to the Constitution," she said.

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Who is Liz Cheney? Here's what to know about her:

Cheney's family legacy

The Wyoming Republican is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney — who served alongside former President George W. Bush — and former second lady Lynne Cheney.

Before Dick Cheney was vice president, he, too, held the same House leadership role his daughter once held in the late 1980s, and went on to be House minority whip and a secretary of defense.

Liz Cheney is married to Philip Perry, and they have five children.

She had a public rift with her younger sister, Mary Cheney, around 2013 due to her opposition to same-sex marriage despite her sister's marriage to a woman.

Former Vice-President of the United States Dick Cheney and his daughter, Liz Cheney take part in a USA TODAY interview.
Former Vice-President of the United States Dick Cheney and his daughter, Liz Cheney take part in a USA TODAY interview.

In Congress since 2017

Once the third-ranking Republican in the House, Cheney is also Wyoming's only representative due to its small population.

The 55-year-old has held her seat in the House since 2017, and assumed her title as chair of the Republican conference in 2019, under House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. She held that post until May 2021, when she was removed over her defiance of Trump.

She serves on the House Armed Services Committee and is vice chair of the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.

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Cheney has a 98% positivity rating from the conservative Heritage Foundation, which rates lawmakers based on their voting records' alignment with the think tank's political arm.

According to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight, Cheney voted in line with Trump 92.9% of the time while he was in office.

Before she was in the House, Cheney ran an unsuccessful bid for a Wyoming Senate seat in 2013 and 2014, promising to align herself with Tea Party favorites at the time. She discontinued her campaign citing family health reasons.

She was also a former State Department official in Bush's administration and was a practicing international law attorney.

Trump critic: Liz Cheney persists in pushing back on Trump's election claims despite perilous position in GOP

Cheney's criticism of Trump long earned her rebukes from fellow Republicans, with Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., calling for her to step down well before her vote to impeach. When Trump refused to wear a face mask in public amid the coronavirus pandemic, Cheney tweeted a photo of her father in a mask with the hashtag #realmenwearmasks. She took frequent swipes at Trump, mostly over policy differences.

The abandonment of support for Cheney is a blow to her career path, as she has been widely respected in conservative politics and was considered one of the next in line to lead House Republicans.

Since then, Cheney has only become more defiant of Trump and his role in her party. During a speech at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi, California, Cheney said Republican leaders "have made themselves willing hostages to this dangerous and irrational man."

She is one of two Republicans, along with Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, on the House Jan. 6 committee, where she has taken an active role in connecting Trump to the violence of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

She has called the riot a "conspiracy," and said Trump did not care that false allegations of election fraud would lead to threats of violence.

“Donald Trump did not care about the threats of violence,” Cheney said at one hearing. “He did not condemn them. He made no effort to stop them. He went forward with his fake allegations anyway.”

Cheney ouster in GOP conference, challenged in primary

Cheney avoided an ouster from her leadership role in February 2021, after she voted to impeach Trump, with a 145-61 secret ballot among the Republican conference to keep her in place.

When the conference took another vote in May, though, Cheney was removed.

Her position on Trump was backed up by other prominent Republicans like McCarthy, who soon after the riot said, "The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters." He later walked back those remarks, and has now signaled he supports removing Cheney.

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Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who rose to prominence as a new member of Congress for her staunch support of Trump during his first impeachment proceedings over his dealings with Ukraine in 2019, replaced Cheney in the House Republican conference. She received endorsements from Trump and the No. 2 House Republican, Steve Scalise, R-La.

Stefanik voted in line with Trump 77.7% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Cheney also has a new challenge on the homefront: a primary opponent backed by Trump. Trump endorsed Wyoming attorney Harriet Hageman, the Republican running against Cheney in her state's August primary election.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is Liz Cheney? Wyoming rep, VP's daughter, Trump critic