Former President Donald Trump has seemingly chosen to toss Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) aside during a recent Tuesday evening interview when he was questioned about whether or not he still openly supports the bid from McCarthy to secure the House Speaker’s gavel.
Previously, Trump chose to issue an endorsement onto McCarthy and even called the politician “My Kevin,” but all of that was prior to a small group of holdout Republicans standing in the way of McCarthy securing his bid on Tuesday evening for the Speak’s gavel.
Garrett Haake, a NBC News Senior Capitol Hill Correspondent, stated via social media: “Former President Trump declined to say if he’s sticking by his endorsement of Kevin McCarthy for speaker tonight, telling me in a brief phone interview he’s had calls all day asking for support, and ‘We’ll see what happens. We’ll see how it all works out.’”
“When I asked directly if he was sticking by McCarthy, who did not clinch the gavel today after three floor votes, Mr. Trump told me ‘we’ll see what happens,’ and ended our conversation,” stated Haake.
When I asked directly if he was sticking by McCarthy, who did not clinch the gavel today after three floor votes, Mr. Trump told me "we'll see what happens," and ended our conversation.
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) January 3, 2023
Throughout the first round of voting, McCarthy managed to garner a total of 203 votes, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) received 212 votes, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) received 10 votes, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) received six votes, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) received one vote, former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) received one vote, and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) received one vote.
The list of Republicans that blocked the bid from McCarthy in the first round of voting included Reps. Matt Rosendale (MT), Chip Roy (TX), Keith Self (TX), and Andy Biggs (AZ), Dan Bishop (NC), Lauren Boebert (CO), Josh Brecheen (OK), Mike Cloud (TX), Andrew Clyde (GA), Eli Crane (AZ), Matt Gaetz (FL), Bob Good (VA), Paul Gosar (AZ), Andy Harris (MD), Anna Paulina Luna (FL), Mary Miller (IL), Ralph Norman (SC), Andy Ogles (TN), Scott Perry (PA).
Trump has previously issued a warning out to the Republicans of the House against playing such games with an important race like this.
“I like him,” stated Trump this past December about McCarthy. “I think it’s a very dangerous game that’s being played. It’s a very dangerous game. Some bad things could happen. Look, we had Boehner and he was a strange person but we ended up with Paul Ryan who was ten times worse. Paul Ryan was an incompetent speaker. I think he goes down as the worst speaker in history. We took [out] Boehner—and a group of people, some of whom are the same, and they’re very good friends of mine. All those people are very good friends of mine.”
“Look, I think this: Kevin has worked very hard,” Trump concluded. “He is just—it’s been exhausting. If you think, he’s been all over. I think he deserves the shot. Hopefully he’s going to be very strong and going to be very good and he’s going to do what everybody wants.”
