ABC host slaps down Chris Christie after he says Liz Cheney 'wanted' to be kicked out of GOP leadership

ABC host Jonathan Karl clashed with former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) over the conspiracy theory that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) opposes former President Donald Trump because she "wanted" to be removed from GOP leadership.

Christie presented the conspiracy theory during a panel discussion on ABC's This Week program.

"Just because you have a group of folks inside the House GOP caucus who are kicking some folks out, look, my view has always been Liz Cheney wanted to be kicked out," Christie opined. "Because, remember, the first time she made the statements she made, she was reelected to her leadership position."

"It's only when she continued after that -- that looks like somebody who wanted to make a point and wanted to be kicked out," he added.

"The point she's making is to defend the Constitution of the United States," Karl pointed out.

"Well, Jon, whatever it is," Christie replied, "it wasn't like she was looking to protect her position and the first time Republicans inside that caucus had a chance to vote on Liz Cheney, they voted to keep her. Overwhelmingly!"

The House Republican caucus voted to remove Cheney from her leadership spot last year after she repeatedly denounced former President Donald Trump's role in the Jan. 6 attack and his lies about the 2020 election.

Watch the video below from ABC.