- Rep. Liz Cheney accused House GOP leadership of enabling "white nationalism" and "white supremacy."
- Cheney's comments came after a gunman killed 10 people in a racially-motivated attack in
Buffalo .
Rep. Liz Cheney accused House Republican leadership, of which she was once a member, of perpetuating "white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism" in her most blistering criticism yet of House GOP leaders.
"History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse," Cheney tweeted. "@GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them."
—Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) May 16, 2022
Cheney's comments came after a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York over the weekend where a white gunman killed 10 people and injured three at a grocery store in a predominately Black neighborhood of the city.
The suspected shooter, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, is believed to have published a manifesto rife with racist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that outlined plans to kill Black people. Authorities are investigating the racially-motivated attack as a hate crime and a possible incidence of domestic terrorism.
The manifesto espoused the "Great Replacement" theory, which has inspired other racially-motivated mass shootings in recent years. The racist, theory, promoted by far-right figures and some in right-wing media, posits that a conspiracy is afoot to "replace" white people with people of color and immigrants.
Among those in House leadership, Rep.
Stefanik, a prominent Republican and a close Trump ally, replaced Cheney as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference in May 2021. That came after Cheney broke with her party over President Donald Trump's involvement in the January 6 Capitol siege.
"Radical Democrats are planning their most aggressive move yet: a PERMANENT ELECTION INSURRECTION," read one Facebook ad that Stefanik's campaign ran from September 17 to September 29, 2021.
"Their plan to grant amnesty to 11 MILLION illegal immigrants will overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington," the ad continued.
Another ad that ran from September 15 to October 5, 2021, read: "Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Nancy Pelosi are attempting to flood our voter roles with 11 MILLION NEW VOTERS by giving illegal immigrants amnesty."
Stefanik's representatives have denied that her comments were connected in any way to racist theories or ideologies. They argued that her campaign account ran Facebook ads specifically in the context of an amendment on the ballot in New York City that November that granted noncitizen immigrants, like permanent residents, the right to vote in local elections.
In the wake of the shooting, Stefanik, who represents a district in upstate New York, said "our nation is heartbroken about the tragic news of the horrific loss of life in Buffalo."
'Any implication or attempt to blame the heinous shooting in Buffalo on the Congresswoman is a disgusting new low for the Left, their Never Trump allies, and their sycophant stenographers in the media," her senior adviser Alex DeGrasse said in a statement.
"Despite sickening and false reporting, Congressman Stefanik has never advocated for any racist position or made any racist statement," DeGrasse continued.
Stefanik also continued to defend herself on Twitter on Monday, including claiming that Democrats want "amnesty."
"Democrats desperately want wide open borders and mass amnesty for illegals allowing them to vote," she wrote on Monday morning. "Like the vast majority of Americans, Republicans want to secure our borders and protect election integrity."
The Biden administration's immigration policies have not espoused "wide open borders" or "mass amnesty" for undocumented immigrants.
In another Monday morning tweet, Stefanik wrote: "It is a FACT that DEMOCRATS have been explicitly pushing for amnesty for years - specifically for political and electoral purposes"