Drew Angerer/Getty Images
- Rep. Elise Stefanik, who's looking to replace Rep. Liz Cheney in House leadership, has aggressively spread lies about the 2020 election.
- Stefanik was one of 147 Republican lawmakers – 8 senators and 139 House members – who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
- The congresswoman told colleagues on Wednesday that Trump is backing her to replace Cheney, who's rejected the GOP's election lies.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, a far-right New Yorker looking to replace Rep. Liz Cheney in House leadership, has aggressively spread lies about the 2020 election.
The 36-year old was one of 147 Republican lawmakers – 8 senators and 139 House members – who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election after pro-Trump loyalists stormed the Capitol on January 6. Stefanik objected to the Electoral College votes in a few swing states and promoted baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud. She also backed a lawsuit brought by the Texas attorney general to overturn the results in four swing states President Joe Biden won. The Supreme Court declined to take up the case.
Trump dubbed Stefanik "a new Republican star" after she aggressively defended him during his first impeachment trial and on Wednesday Stefanik told colleagues that Trump wanted her to replace Cheney in leadership, Punchbowl News first reported.
The former president made clear in a Wednesday statement that his opposition to Cheney centered around her refusal to spread lies about the election. Cheney was also one of just 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
"Warmonger Liz Cheney, who has virtually no support left in the Great State of Wyoming, continues to unknowingly and foolishly say that there was no Election Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election when in fact, the evidence, including no Legislative approvals as demanded by the U.S. Constitution, shows the exact opposite," Trump said in a written statement released Wednesday morning.
Harvard's Kennedy School of Government removed Stefanik from its Institute of Politics' advisory committee in January after she made a slew of false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election.
"Elise has made public assertions about voter fraud in November's presidential election that have no basis in evidence, and she has made public statements about court actions related to the election that are incorrect," Doug Elmendorf, the school's dean, said at the time. "These assertions and statements do not reflect policy disagreements but bear on the foundations of the electoral process through which this country's leaders are chosen."
Stefanik, who was removed from the committee after refusing to step down, took pride in the punishment and accused her alma mater of "caving to the woke left."
"A conservative Republican, it is a rite of passage and badge of honor to join the long line of leaders who have been boycotted, protested and canceled by colleges and universities across America," she said in a statement.