Liz Cheney's Ominous Warning About Jim Jordan's House Speaker Bid

Former Representative Liz Cheney offered an ominous warning to House Republicans about electing Representative Jim Jordan as the next Speaker of the House, suggesting that it could mark the end of the GOP as they know it.

Speaking of Jordan's bid for the gavel on Wednesday night, Cheney told a packed crowd at the University of Minnesota, "If they were to decide that, there would no longer be any possible way to argue that a group of elected Republicans could be counted on to defend the Constitution."

Jordan, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, announced his campaign for the speakership a day after Representative Kevin McCarthy was ousted on Tuesday. So far, Representative Steve Scalise is the only other Republican who has announced a bid for the gavel. Newsweek reached out to Jordan via email for comment.

Cheney, who lost re-election last year, is a staunch Trump critic and was increasingly vocal in her opposition to the former president during her final months in Congress. She was one of the 10 GOP lawmakers to vote in favor of Trump's second impeachment and one of two Republicans to serve on the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack.

During the midterms, Trump endorsed Cheney's primary challenger, Harriet Hageman, who defeated Cheney by a landslide in the primaries and went on to win Wyoming's at-large congressional district for the Republican Party.

Cheney, who fell out with McCarthy in her final months in office, also criticized the ousted Republican leader in her Wednesday remarks and said that he deserved the fate that befell him on Tuesday.

"Kevin McCarthy is absolutely unfit to be speaker," the former congresswoman said, according to Star Tribune's Louis Krauss. "Kevin McCarthy at every moment over the course of the last two years, has done more to enable and collaborate with and apologize for Donald Trump."

Although opposed to Jordan as the next Speaker, Cheney called temporary Speaker Representative Patrick McHenry a "great" fit for the role. McHenry has not announced any plans to permanently seek the gavel. He was handpicked by McCarthy to lead in the event that the seat would be left vacant.

Cheney, who is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, also left open the possibility of a presidential run herself, saying that she would strongly consider a campaign as an independent candidate if Trump were to secure the Republican nomination. She has previously stated that she would leave the party altogether if the former president was the 2024 nominee.

Trump is currently the frontrunner in a crowded GOP field. FiveThirtyEight shows Trump leading the pack with 57 percent support from Republican voters, and his nearest competitor trailing behind with only 14 percent. RealClearPolitics also shows Trump with a nearly 44 percent lead over the other Republican candidates.