![](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2021\/05\/05\/USAT\/aa9849fb-6c45-4d8c-aa01-8229b416dc08-AP21119057700049.jpg?width=540&height=&fit=bounds&auto=webp\")
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Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., arrives to the chamber ahead of President Joe Biden speaking to a joint session of Congress on April 28, 2021, in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Photo: Melina Mara, AP)<\/span><\/p>\n Another day, another drip in the Liz Cheney drama.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The Republican Party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution,” the\u00a0No.\u00a03 House Republican wrote a scathing\u00a0editorial published in the Washington Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n House Republicans already have a possible replacement for Cheney should she be ousted from her leadership role.\u00a0<\/p>\n It’s Mabinty, with more on the GOP’s infighting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Want this news roundup in your inbox every night?\u00a0Sign up for\u00a0OnPolitics newsletter\u00a0here.<\/em><\/p>\n Cheney called\u00a0on members of her party to choose allegiance to the Constitution over the “cult of personality” of former President Donald Trump. She also\u00a0called out House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for changing his stance on Trump, saying he “left no doubt” about Trump’s guilt in his public remarks days after Jan. 6.<\/p>\n “On the floor of the House on Jan. 13, McCarthy\u00a0said: ‘The president bears responsibility for Wednesday\u2019s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.’\u00a0Now, McCarthy has\u00a0changed his story,” she wrote.<\/p>\n (McCarthy previously\u00a0defended the Wyoming congresswoman but now says the conference is losing confidence in her.)<\/p>\n Cheney’s recent actions\u00a0put her at risk as prominent Republicans line up against her. Enter Rep. Elise Stefanik.\u00a0The person rising as a potential replacement for the Wyoming Republican is Stefanik,\u00a0a\u00a0New York Republican who emerged\u00a0as a loyal and vocal defender of the 45th president in the last years of the Trump administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n She’s also got the backing of the second most powerful House Republican, Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise\u00a0and Trump.\u00a0If Stefanik\u00a0is successful in replacing Cheney, she would be the first millennial and one of the few women to hold the position.<\/p>\n Former Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite traversed the globe in his brief tenure under the Trump administration, spending about $2.4 million in air travel<\/strong>, according to figures and documents obtained by USA TODAY.<\/p>\n Braithwaite was Navy secretary, the service’s most senior civilian, from May 29 until Biden took office on Jan. 21. Braithwaite embarked on 22 trips to foreign and domestic destinations during that time \u2013 more than any other senior Pentagon civilian\u00a0\u2013 even as the COVID-19 pandemic trimmed the wings of other\u00a0senior officials, according to two Defense Department officials.<\/p>\n In a statement, Braithwaite said his\u00a0trips were necessary to bolster the Navy, citing recent crises it had endured, including, presumably the troubles surrounding the Roosevelt.\u00a0(The crew of the aircraft carrier\u00a0USS Theodore Roosevelt suffered a COVID-19 outbreak\u00a0that made national headlines in 2020.)\u00a0<\/p>\n “I am extremely proud of the record of accomplishments of Our Sailors and Marines during my tenure as Secretary, especially following such a tumultuous chapter in the Navy\u2019s recent history of crisis following crisis as compared to our other services,” Braithwaite wrote in an email. “I submit it’s impossible to lead men and women deployed around the world from behind a desk in Washington.”\u00a0<\/p>\nSo about that editorial …\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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Costly travel \u2708\ufe0f<\/h2>\n
More in Washington:\u00a0<\/h2>\n