Baker Says He Remains 'Big Believer' In GOP's Core Values After Cheney's Ouster

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday he continues to believe in the "core values" of the Republican Party after House Republicans ousted a party leader for her harsh criticism of former President Donald Trump.

Baker, a moderate Republican who has also been critical of Trump, said he agreed with U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming that the 2020 election was "fair," despite complaints by Trump and some other Republicans.

"I've had my differences, as everybody knows, with plenty of folks in the party over the course of the time that I've been in public life. But I'm a big believer in what the party fundamentally stands for, based on what I believe it stands for," he said, without elaborating.

Cheney was removed from her leadership position on Wednesday over her continued repudiation of Trump for fomenting conspiracies about the 2020 election and for the role she says the former president played in provoking the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

While Cheney blasted her fellow Republicans for refusing to stand up to the former president, party leaders said they were eager to turn the page on 2020 and focus on winning back Congress in 2022. Baker did not comment directly on Cheney's removal from her position as conference chair.

"Remaining silent, and ignoring the lie, emboldens the liar," Cheney said in a speech on the House floor Tuesday. "I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president's crusade to undermine our democracy."

Trump said he was looking forward to Cheney's ouster, calling her "a poor leader, a major Democrat talking point, a warmonger, and a person with absolutely no personality or heart."

Asked if he agreed with Cheney that the Republican Party was "abandoning the rule of law and democratic principles" in fealty to Trump, Baker said Cheney was right in her defense of the election results.

"I made very clear that I felt the election process that took place back in November was fair, and that President Joe Biden won the election. And on these issues I believe Liz Cheney is absolutely right," Baker said at a press conference from the Norwood laboratory of COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Moderna.

Over the course of Baker's more than six years in office, the moderate Republican has had an uneasy relationship with his party. He never voted for Trump and publicly dissented from the White House on multiple occasions. But he also endorsed Republicans like Maine Sen. Susan Collins, at the same time he was trying to distance himself from national politics.

Now, as the governor considers whether to seek a third term in 2022, Baker finds himself more popular with Democrats and independents in his home state than with voters in his own party, according to recent polling. And former Republican state representative Geoff Diehl, who was active in Trump's 2016 campaign in Massachusetts, is publicly weighing a run for governor next year.

Baker said he hadn't been approached with a letter reportedly circulating in Republican circles and signed by over 100 former state and national officials threatening to break away and form a third party if the GOP doesn't correct its course.

The New York Times reported that signatories include former Republican governors, members of Congress, ambassadors, cabinet secretaries, state legislators and Republican Party chairmen, and Reuters reported that names on the letter will include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

"I haven't been approached about it, and I've been a Republican since I was 20 years old. And I continue to believe in what I consider to be sort of the core values of the party," Baker said, when asked about the letter.

Baker on Tuesday took part in a virtual meeting with President Biden and five other governors, including Democrats and Republicans, in a show of bipartisanship to highlight effective strategies that states are deploying to vaccinate their populations against COVID-19.

"You’ve been doing a hell of a job across the board. You really have. Hope that doesn’t ruin your reputation, coming from a Democrat, but you're doing a hell of a job," Biden told Baker.

A day later, Baker said he has found governors to be less partisan than elected officials in Congress and said over the course of the pandemic he has been able to talk with both Republican and Democratic state leaders "on a pretty regular basis."

"One of the things I like about playing this role as governor is the fact that most governors will pick up the phone when you call them and help you try to solve whatever problem it is that you're trying to solve and vice versa because we have a lot of commonality on that, and I think in some ways it's something I wish there was a lot more of at the federal level," Baker said.