Wyoming GOP censures Rep. Liz Cheney

Only 8 of 74 on panel oppose rebuke over impeachment vote

RAWLINS, Wyo. — The Wyoming Republican Party voted overwhelmingly Saturday to censure U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney for voting to impeach President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Only eight of the 74 members of the state GOP’s central committee stood up to oppose censure in a vote that didn’t proceed to a formal count. The censure document accused Cheney of voting to impeach even though the U.S. House didn’t offer Trump “formal hearing or due process.”

“We need to honor President Trump. All President Trump did was call for a peaceful assembly and protest for a fair and audited election,” said Darin Smith, a Cheyenne attorney who lost to Cheney in the Republican U.S. House primary in 2016. “The Republican Party needs to put her on notice.”

Joey Correnti, GOP chairman in Carbon County where the censure vote was held, said: “Does the voice of the people matter? And if it does, does it only matter at the ballot box?”

Cheney has said repeatedly she voted her conscience in backing impeachment for the riot, which followed a rally at which Trump encouraged supporters to get rid of lawmakers who “aren’t any good, the Liz Cheneys of the world.”

Far from leading a peaceful demonstration, Trump “summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” Cheney said in a statement before the Jan. 13 impeachment vote.

In a statement after the state GOP vote, Cheney said she remained honored to represent Wyoming and will always fight for issues that matter most to the state.