Trump declines to say if he will continue supporting Kevin McCarthy as speaker after losing three ballots: ex-president claims he’s received multiple calls of support – and will ‘see what happens’
- Former President Donald Trump declined to say whether he would continue to support Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid for the House speaker on Tuesday
- “We’ll see what happens,” Trump told NBC News during a brief phone call after McCarthy fell short three times
- A gang of rogue Republicans have derailed McCarthy’s rise to speakership, claiming to be more MAGA than the California Republican
Former President Donald Trump declined to say whether he would continue to support Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid for the House speaker after the California Republican fell short three times on Tuesday.
“We’ll see what happens,” Trump told NBC News during a brief phone call.
The ex-president, who announced a 2024 White House run in mid-November, also boasted he’s received a barrage of calls from lawmakers hoping to get his approval.
“Everyone is calling me and wanting my support,” Trump told the network. “But let’s see what happens and we’ll go – I’ve called everyone who wants my support. That’s all I can say. But we’ll see what happens. We will see how everything develops.”
Former President Donald Trump declined to say whether he would continue to support Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid for the House speaker after the California Republican fell short three times on Tuesday
The House of Representatives voted three times Tuesday for Speaker of the House and GOP leader Kevin McCarthy came up short three times due to a group of “Never Kevin” lawmakers in his caucus – who say they are closer to Trump than McCarthy
Later Tuesday night, the former president said those really responsible for the Republican “riots” were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other “RINO allies.” He also used a racist name for McConnell’s wife, Trump’s former Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao
Later Tuesday night, Trump focused on the other chamber of Congress, saying those really responsible for the Republican “riots” were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other “RINO allies.”
Trump also used a racist name for McConnell’s wife, his former Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, who quit over the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, calling her “Coco Chow” and saying she was a “sell-out to China.”
He said McConnell, Chao and other moderate Republicans are “making it difficult for everyone else by constantly appealing to the hopeless Joe Biden and the Democrats.”
“The $1.7 trillion Green New Deal ‘booster’ that McConnell and the RINOS presented to the Dems last week was a real downer and an embarrassment to Republicans!” Trump also said, referring to the government funding bill that Biden signed into law while on vacation on St. Croix last week.
McCarthy’s bid to speak came under pressure on Tuesday — the opening day of the new Congress — by a handful of renegade Republicans who claim they represent the MAGA movement more than the California Republican, who has chaired the House GOP since 2019.
Now that they’re gaining a majority, the Republican rebels want an alternative to McCarthy, with 20 members settling on Rep. Jim Jordan by the end of the day.
The House of Representatives went on recess around 5:30 p.m. through noon Wednesday, giving Republicans the night and morning to settle their affairs.
Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, one of the most prominent members of the Never Kevins, still maintained McCarthy’s criticism of Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack against him.
House Republican Chairman Kevin McCarthy speaks with colleagues amid Tuesday’s drama as a group of rogue Republicans derails the election of speaker for the California Republican, who has been the leader of the House GOP since 2019
HAPPIER TIMES: Then President Donald Trump (center) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (right) celebrate House Republicans pushing back on Obamacare in May 2017. The Senate never followed suit, and so the law was never fully passed
By the end of the day, 20 breakaway Republicans had voted to support Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan to chair the powerful House Judiciary Committee
“Well, I wish I could say that Kevin McCarthy supported President Trump as much as we do and as much as President Trump supports him right now, but that’s just not the truth,” Boebert told Newsmax. “I sat right behind McCarthy on the floor of the house almost two years ago and listened to a speech he made about blaming President Trump.”
“Any time it suits him or the pressure is too much, he seems to wave to President Trump,” she said of McCarthy.
Boebert said the Republican rebels were “in communication” with Trump.
“I just don’t think he got that right,” she said of Trump’s support for McCarthy at the time.
She also said Trump pushed McCarthy into making a deal with his group of critics.
Boebert et. Al. want a single member to be able to propose an eviction, which means a member of a conference can vote at any time to oust McCarthy from the speakership.