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Matt Gaetz pushes back on Crenshaw over Cheney impeachment vote defense

January 14, 2021

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., pushed back against fellow Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, Wednesday after the congressman defended Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the highest-ranking woman in the house, for her vote to impeach President Trump.

"With all due respect to Rep. Crenshaw, this is a minority view within the minority party," Gaetz tweeted to Crenshaw.

Crenshaw said earlier that Cheney had a "hell of a lot more backbone than most" and called her a "principled leader."

While Crenshaw didn't vote to impeach the president, he wrote "We can disagree without tearing each other apart."

Cheney and nine other House Republicans voted along with Democrats to impeach Trump Wednesday for "incitement of insurrection" after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the certification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College win over the president.

Cheney, the highest-ranking GOP House member to vote for impeachment, has faced calls from a handful of Republican colleagues for her to resign from her leadership position over the vote.

The Wyoming congresswoman, who wrote Tuesday "There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution," rebuffed the resignation calls.

"I'm not going anywhere," she told a reporter. "This is a vote of conscience. It's one where there are different views in our conference."

Staffers for Gaetz and Crenshaw did not immediately respond to an email from Fox News.