The top Republican in the US House of Representatives has set a Wednesday date for the chamber's 212 Republican members to vote on removing Donald Trump critic Liz Cheney from her leadership post.
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The vote, announced by House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy in a letter to colleagues on Monday, is likely to result in the ouster of Cheney, who voted to impeach Trump in January and has repeatedly criticised the former president's false claim that the 2020 election was stolen.
McCarthy cast Cheney's expected removal as chair of the House Republican Conference - the party's No.3 post in the chamber - as necessary to unify Republicans in the run-up to the 2022 congressional elections when they hope to reclaim control of the House.
"Each day spent relitigating the past is one day less we have to seize the future," McCarthy says in the letter.
Most Republican lawmakers, including McCarthy, have sought to placate Trump, who continues to insist falsely that he lost November's election because of widespread fraud.
But other Republicans warn the move to eject Cheney could ultimately sink Republican hopes in 2022 by alienating swing voters. Cheney is the daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney.
"Expelling Liz Cheney from leadership won't gain the GOP one additional voter, but it will cost us quite a few," Republican Senator Mitt Romney said on Twitter on Monday, after coming under fire himself for voting to convict Trump of inciting insurrection earlier this year.
Trump was impeached then acquitted after delivering a fiery January 6 speech to supporters, many of whom then stormed the US Capitol in a bid to block certification of his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Five people including a police officer died in the melee.
Australian Associated Press
