Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., tore into Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Tuesday, calling his defense of Mark Meadows, Donald Trump's White House Chief of Staff, "flat false."
The acrimonious exchange came during a hearing led this week by the House committee charged with investigating the Capitol riot. During a House floor speech on Monday, Cheney read aloud text messages sent by Meadows with various Trump allies, including high-profile Fox News personalities, revealing Meadows' apparent unwillingness to neutralize the insurrection.
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On Tuesday, the House voted 222-208 to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with their subpoena. But Jordan, a longtime Trump supporter, took to the podium to defend the Trump aide – his "friend" – saying that the committee's decision to hold Meadows in contempt was "as wrong as it gets." Jordan further attributed the decision to the Democrats' "lust for power."
"Your lust to get your opponent is so intense you don't care," he added.
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Cheney resumed the hearing by addressing "some of the charges [Jordan] just made," calling them "flat false." For one, she said, Meadows refused to appear in any deposition with the January 6 committee, despite previously agreeing to do so. Meadows "refused to show up to address non-privileged questions," Cheney added, a reference to his unwillingness to answer questions unprotected by executive privilege.
"This committee is engaged in critical investigative and legislative activity for which there is no greater purpose in terms of Congress' responsibility no matter what my colleague on the other side may claim in terms of Meadows," Cheney added.
It isn't the first time Meadows, a chief congressional backer of Trump's "Stop the Steal" movement, has been subject to Cheney's ire.
RELATED: Cheney's Jan. 6 plea to GOP falls on deaf ears as Trump derides her as "smug fool"
Shortly after the Capitol riot, Cheney allegedly referred to Jordan as "that f**ing guy" and a "son of a b**ch" in a meeting with Joint Chief of Staff Chair Mark Milley, according to Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker.
"While these maniacs are going through the place," said Cheney, speaking of her experience during the riot, "I'm standing in the aisle and he said, 'We need to get the ladies away from the aisle. Let me help you.' I smacked his hand away and told him, 'Get away from me. You f**king did this.'"
Back in May, Cheney, one of the few House Republicans to support Trump's impeachment over inciting the Capitol riot, was removed from her position as chair of the House Republican Conference for failing to show enough fealty to Trump's baseless claims of election fraud.
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