Kevin McCarthy told Liz Cheney to apologize after she voted to impeach Trump

• Kevin McCarthy told Liz Cheney to apologize after she voted to impeach Trump, Axios reported.
• Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for a second time.
• House Minority leader McCarthy reportedly said GOP colleagues wanted to hear Cheney say sorry.

House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy told Rep. Liz Cheney to apologize after she voted to impeach President Donald Trump, Axios reported.

Cheney, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for a second time in January following the Capitol insurrection on January 6. She has been the subject of extensive criticism from some GOP colleagues for crossing party lines to vote with Democrats against Trump.

Axios reported Sunday that Rep. McCarthy asked Cheney, the third highest-ranking House Republican, to apologize for her handling of the vote during last week's closed House GOP conference meeting, saying that colleagues wanted to hear her say sorry.

The meeting was called to discuss possible punishments for Cheney as well as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, an avid Trump supporter who has promoted multiple conspiracy theories.

Two sources told the outlet that Cheney refused to apologize for voting to impeach Trump, telling colleagues that "it was a vote of principle - a principle on which I stand and still believe."

Republican House members subsequently voted overwhelmingly during the meeting for Cheney to keep her position as GOP conference chairwoman, a vote which was reportedly called at her insistence.

A total of 145 GOP House members voted to keep her in post, while 61 voted against her.

Reps. McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise were both reported to have offered their support, but McCarthy's request that Cheney apologized underlines the tensions that remain in the House GOP caucus, with some of her pro-Trump critics reportedly subjecting her to "fiery" questioning at the meeting.

Many House members were also reported to have given Rep. Greene a standing ovation at the same meeting after she apologised for previously adhering to the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Despite Cheney's success in retaining her leadership position she also remains the subject of intense criticism from her Wyoming constituents.

She was on Saturday censured by the Wyoming Republican Party, members of which said she had disregarded the will of her constituents, a large majority of whom supported Trump. Only eight of Wyoming's 74-member GOP central committee opposed the censure, the Associated Press reported.

She defended her decision, citing the freedom of speech and associations guaranteed by the Constitution, and said in a statement following her censure, per the AP: "Foremost among these is the defense of our Constitution and the freedoms it guarantees. My vote to impeach was compelled by the oath I swore to the Constitution."