GOP Congressman to ask leader to boot Cheney and Kinzinger from conference

Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona plans to send a letter to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Thursday asking him to remove Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger from the GOP Conference because they accepted Speaker Nancy Pelosi's appointments to the January 6 select committee. 

Removal from the conference requires a two thirds vote of all its members. Typically, only the party leader can bring such a motion to a vote. Biggs, the chair of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, previously called for Kinzinger's and Cheney's expulsion in July, but the effort gained little momentum. 

The select committee is investigating the attack on the Capitol on January 6, when supporters of then-President Trump broke into the building in an attempt to stop the election from being certified. 

McCarthy was granted five picks to serve on the committee, but after Pelosi rejected two, both of whom are close Trump allies, he pulled his other three as well. In an effort to maintain a bipartisan committee, Pelosi asked Cheney and Kinzinger to serve on it, and they accepted. The committee is intensifying its investigations, earlier this week asking telecommunications companies to preserve records of communications from members of Congress. 

"Many of the coming discussions will likely revolve around our defense against the Democrats' perpetuation of the false narrative that January 6th was an insurrection and how to protect our own from their legally questionable investigative methods," the letter says. "Congresswoman Cheney and Congressman Kinzinger are two spies for the Democrats that we currently invite to the meetings, despite our inability to trust them."

Biggs cited a House GOP conference rule that says "any Member of the Conference who accepts a committee assignment or serves on a committee without a recommendation to the Conference of the Republican Steering Committee or the Republican leader, shall immediately cease to be a Member of the Conference."

In a statement, Kinzinger spokesperson Maura Gillespie said the congressman is looking for answers about the January 6 attack that the public deserves and questioned why Biggs is so fixated on derailing the investigation. 

"When a Member makes repeated calls to remove Representatives Kinzinger and Cheney from the Conference, it certainly calls into question their true motives," Gillespie said. "Especially when that Member pushes conspiracy theories to their constituents and outright lies for their own personal gain."

McCarthy's and Cheney's offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment.