“I don’t believe he should be playing a role in the future of the party,” House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney told reporters on Wednesday.
Trump is expected to speak at the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, also known as CPAC, which is slated to meet in Orlando between Thursday and Sunday.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican and Trump ally, did not hesitate when a reporter asked whether Trump should be speaking at CPAC.
WATCH:ELON MUSK TALKS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF SELF DRIVING CARS
“Yes, he should,” McCarthy promptly replied.
This will be Trump’s first major address since leaving office on Jan. 20. The House impeached Trump last month on the charge of inciting an insurrection that led to the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by throngs of his supporters. The Senate acquitted Trump last week, but all Democrats as well as seven Republicans voted guilty.
WATCH ALAN DERSHOWITZ: "THERE IS NO CRIME IN MANHATTAN"
Cheney, who voted along with nine other Republicans and all Democrats to impeach Trump on Jan. 13, survived a recent attempt by pro-Trump conservatives in her conference to oust her from the leadership team.
HOW DEMOCRATS' ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS ARE TURNING INTO THEIR WORST NIGHTMARE
McCarthy said that he backs the Wyoming Republican despite their differences about Trump and his role in the party.
“I’ve been clear about my views about President Trump,” Cheney stated, referencing the role that she believed the former president played in provoking the Jan. 6 attack.
BIDEN'S CRUCIAL CROSSROADS: GAZA CEASE-FIRE NEGOTIATIONS REACH CRITICAL JUNCTURE
Cheney is decidedly in the minority of Republican lawmakers who want Trump to disappear. Her closest Senate analogue is Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, who has frequently clashed with Trump and twice voted to convict him in impeachment trials.
"BITCOIN JESUS" BUSTED: $48 MILLION TAX EVASION SCHEME UNRAVELS
Nevertheless, even Romney says the 2024 Republican nomination is Trump's for the asking.
“I do not know if he'll run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I'm pretty sure he will win the nomination,” Romney commented on Monday.
Seven weeks after an emboldened pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. In an effort to stop the certification of the 2020 election results, the Conservative Political Action Conference is shaping up to be an event that leans into the 2020 election conspiracy theories rather than rebukes them.
Trump's speech in Orlando is expected to focus on the future of the Republican Party and President Joe Biden's immigration policy, a source familiar with the plans told ABC News. However, Trump very rarely sticks to the script. In addition, a series of TV interviews over the past week, in which Trump continued to claim that he won the election, suggests that the former president is at this time still itching, so to sat, to relitigate his 2020 loss.
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
