Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.) thinks Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will lose the Speakership vote if House Republicans choose him to fill the currently vacant seat.
“If the Republicans decide that Jim Jordan should be the Speaker of the House … by the way, I don’t think that will happen, I think he’ll lose,” Cheney said in a speech Thursday at the University of Minnesota.
Several Republicans have publicly endorsed Jordan to be the next speaker after the House voted Tuesday to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in a historic, first-of-its-kind vote.
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) predicted Thursday that Jordan will earn enough votes to make him Speaker, more than House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), who also is vying for the seat.
Cheney doesn’t think Jordan will earn enough votes, but if he were to do so, she said there would “no longer be any possible way to argue that a group of elected Republicans could defend against the Constitution.”
Cheney said Jordan was part of former President Donald Trump’s plan to overturn the 2020 election.
“Jim Jordan knew more about what Donald Trump had planned for Jan. 6 than any other member of the House of Representatives,” Cheney said. “Jim Jordan was involved, was part of the conspiracy in which Donald Trump was engaged as he attempted to overturn the election.”
Cheney said there was a handful of people, Jordan being the leader, who knew what Trump had planned on that day. Cheney said in her speech that someone needs to ask Jordan why he didn’t report his knowledge about the events on Jan. 6 to Capitol Police.
The race to become the next Speaker is still new, and others could join Jordan and Scalise in the battle for Speakership ahead of next week’s expected vote.
Trump may be one of those joining the race. Trump told Fox News Digital on Thursday that he would accept a short-term role and serve as a “unifier” for the Republican party as Speaker.