Republican Wyoming Rep. Landon Brown said Saturday that former President Donald Trump has “hijacked” the GOP and that he is “unfit” to serve in office for a second term.
Speaking on CNN, Brown added that the Republican Party is currently being run by a “fringe” group of far-right conservatives. He also issued his support for fellow Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who was recently censured for serving on a House committee tasked with investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol building.
“I think what’s happened here at this point is we’ve seen a fringe group that is on the far right of our party, has taken over our party, and they are the ones that are pushing this narrative. They’ve been working behind the scenes to come out and come against Liz Cheney since day one with her support of this January 6th panel,” Brown said.
“The Republican Party had the opportunity to stand behind her and they left that, and unfortunately that shows too many people across this country that Trump has hijacked the Republican Party,” he added.
The lawmaker is the only Wyoming House Republican who has publicly issued support for Cheney amid an ongoing divide within the GOP. Last week, the Republican National Committee (RNC) voted to censure both Cheney and Illinois Republican Adam Kinzinger for their involvement in investigating the January 6 insurrection, as well as for their criticisms against Trump.
The censure resolution characterized the January 6 attack as “legitimate political discourse” and accused both lawmakers of “participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse, and they are both utilizing their past professed political affiliation to mask Democrat abuse of prosecutorial power for partisan purposes.”
The censure drew a strong response within the GOP, with several Republican lawmakers praising the RNC while others slammed the decision for remaining too loyal to Trump.
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Brown also said that he will stand by Cheney as she faces an upcoming election this November, while adding that he will do “everything” in his power to prevent Trump from running for office again in 2024.
“President Trump has a maximum of four years more in office, and I stand with Liz Cheney that I will do everything in my power to make sure that’s not happening [again] as well,” he continued. “At the end of the day, what he did and the way he handled himself on January 6th, it is clear to everybody that he is unfit for office.”
Trump has not yet made a formal announcement that he will run for office again in 2024, but he has repeatedly hinted at it since he left office. However according to a January poll, as many as 70 percent of Americans have indicated that they do not want the former president to run for office again.
