If Rep. McCarthy engages to take out a GOP member, he’s bound to upset a number of his more moderate party members

The discussion about how to handle Cheney and Kinzinger recently made its way to McCarthy’s office. Behind closed doors, the GOP leader met with members of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, which had been agitating for months to kick Cheney and Kinzinger out of the GOP conference, something that requires a two-thirds majority.

Emerging from the meeting, the Cheney critics seemed to have shifted course, indicating they instead would focus their fight on trying to take out Cheney in her primary.

“We are all on the same page,” said Rep. Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the group. Another House Freedom Caucus member told CNN: “there are shared objectives” with the leadership.

Greene added: “I’m actually more interested in the long game. It’d be far more insulting to me to kick them out of the conference, and then see Liz Cheney win her reelection and come back to Congress. The plan I’m most invested in is making sure she loses and she can never come back.”

‘We don’t play in primaries’

Yet it’s far from clear what the GOP leadership will do — if anything — to oust Cheney back home in her primary.

The House GOP’s campaign arm has an official policy of not getting involved in primaries, while Republican leaders also don’t typically wade into those races — a risky move that could backfire if the targeted lawmaker ends up winning. Not to mention, McCarthy is more worried about focusing his energy on races that actually matter for the majority; Wyoming is a ruby red state and whoever wins the primary is expected to sail to victory in the general election.

“We don’t play in primaries,” Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told CNN. “We’re not involved in any of that.”

Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, said he wasn’t involved in primaries — and then shifted to an attack on the White House.

Initially, the RNC resolution was going to call for Kinzinger and Cheney to be expelled, which would have put even more pressure on McCarthy to act, but it was watered down to a censure resolution.

For McCarthy to stay in Trump’s good graces, he can’t be seen as too sympathetic or even ambivalent toward Cheney, or else he risks incurring the wrath of Trump and the right — a crucial voting bloc in his bid to become speaker. And he’s already defended her on two occasions: he stood up for Cheney during the first effort to boot her from leadership immediately after she voted to impeach Trump last year for inciting the deadly attack on the Capitol, and he has more recently resisted the demands to remove her and Kinzinger from the conference.

But if McCarthy engages to take out a GOP member, he’s bound to upset a number of his more moderate members who want to keep focused on taking down Democrats.

“Not going to be helpful,” said Rep. Fred Upton, a veteran Michigan Republican who voted to impeach Trump last year. Upton told CNN on Friday he still hasn’t decided whether he will run for reelection. And he also objected to the RNC move to punish his two colleagues.

“We’re trying to expand the base,” Upton said. “This doesn’t help us. Just doesn’t work.”

Other like-minded Republicans agreed.

Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Washington state Republican who also voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Capitol attack, said: “I would hate to see that happen,” referring to GOP leaders potentially backing Cheney’s primary foe.

“This is a distraction that we shouldn’t be engaged in,” Newhouse said. “We should be focused on truly who our opponents are.”

“I don’t see how this is at all productive,” said Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan, another one of the 10 impeachment backers and who is also facing a Trump-backed primary challenger, when asked about his GOP colleagues being targeted. “We are heading into a midterm where the wind seems to be at our back, the Democrats are doing everything they can to make the argument why they should no longer be trusted with the governing authority.”

Some Republicans avoided discussing the matter — such as Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Darrell Issa — who wouldn’t comment Friday.

And other Trump allies also suggested that the party should stay out of this fight.

“I think the party should try and continue to work with them,” said Texas Rep. Pete Sessions. “I think this is a fight between Donald Trump and (Kinzinger and Cheney), not the party.”

Trump allies apply pressure

Trump’s allies are still hoping to rope top Republicans into their revenge campaign in Wyoming, where Hageman has struggled to outraise the congresswoman.

Perry suggested the group’s political arm is likely to put its weight behind one of Cheney’s opponents: “I think you can extrapolate,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, another member of the Freedom Caucus and staunch Trump ally, said that when she starts wading into races, “that will probably be one I get involved in.”

“Leadership of our party is Donald Trump,” Gaetz said. “The leader of the Republican Party has endorsed the person that will win that race.”

And Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah is headlining a March fundraiser for Cheney, according to an invitation provided to CNN. Among those serving as hosts for the event are prominent Bush-era figures, such as Scooter Libby and Michael Chertoff, as well as her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney.

However, the money dynamic could change as election season heats up, especially now that the RNC has the ability to get involved. Hageman is also listed on the agenda for a fundraiser in Florida later this month benefiting a pro-Trump super PAC, and Trump has made Cheney the top focus on his revenge campaign against the House Republicans who voted to impeach him.

“This is further proof that Liz Cheney has completely lost her ability to be effective in Congress for the people of Wyoming,” Hageman said of the RNC resolution in a statement. “She doesn’t have allies in the Republican Party, and the Democrats only see her as a temporary and useful tool to achieve their partisan ends.”

Cheney, meanwhile, has expressed no regrets about her decision to impeach Trump and serve on the January 6 select committee, even as she continues to suffer consequences for her actions.

“If the price of being willing to tell the truth and get to the bottom of what happened on January 6, and make sure that those who are responsible are held accountable is a censure, then I am absolutely going to continue to stand up for what I know is right,” Cheney told CNN. “And I think that it is a sad day for the party of Lincoln that that’s where we are.”