Trump on McCarthy – We’ll See What Happens

Ex-President Donald Trump didn’t say whether he was still standing behind his endorsement for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R.CA) as speaker of the House. He added, “we’ll see what happens,” According to a report, McCarthy failed to win the support required for the position in three separate votes Tuesday.

NBC News senior Capitol Hill correspondent Garrett Haake reported In two tweets, Trump stated that he spoke to Trump Tuesday night by telephone and asked him if McCarthy was still his support. Trump responded with, “We’ll see what happens,” McCarthy’s support without explicitly reaffirming and withdrawing his support.

Trump answered my question directly when I asked him if he would stick by McCarthy, who didn’t win the gavel today, after three floor votes. “we’ll see what happens,” And ended our conversation.

— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) January 3, 2023

McCarthy had a slim GOP majority of 222-212. He could not afford to lose four votes from his Republican counterparts. However, he still met the threshold of 218 for speaker. All members of both parties were present at voting and were eligible to vote. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-AZ, was present and voting ahead of Tuesday’s first ballot. nominated Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) for the speakership. Biggs and Rep. Matt Gaetz, both Republicans, were leaders in the opposition to McCarthy.

McCarthy received He received 203 votes on his first ballot, which is 15 less than he needed. However, all 212 Democrat members voted in favor of Rep. Hakeem Jefries (D–NY). Biggs won ten votes as the GOP was fractured. Six more voted in support of Rep. Jim Jordan, who will nominate McCarthy on the next ballot. Each vote was cast for Reps. Jim Banks and Byron Donalds (both R-OH), as well as former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-NY).

A second vote was held for the first time in almost 100 years. It produced identical results for Jeffries & McCarthy. However, all Republican members opposed to McCarthy consolidated behind Jordan, giving him 20 votes. The House was forced to go to a third vote because no candidate had received a majority. The results of the third ballot were nearly unchanged except for Donalds (a McCarthy supporter) who flipped his support to Jordan. The House moved to adjourn after the third vote. On Wednesday, the chaos will resume.

U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R.OH) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy(R.CA) give remarks as the House of Representatives votes for Speaker of Congress on the first day of Congress on January 3, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo taken by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images.

Rumours of an apocalyptic future have been circulating about the dysfunction. “coalition government,” as Breitbart News reported:

Multiple sources on both sides begin to talk about a “coalition government” type scenario–which Breitbart News previously reported was something pro-McCarthy conservatives were calling the doomsday scenario–whereby Democrats would deliver the votes necessary to elect a moderate establishment Republican as speaker in exchange for rules changes to the House rules that include eliminating the ability for the new GOP majority to issue subpoenas to President Joe Biden and his family. This scenario seems more likely due to the fact the 19 GOP Republicans against McCarthy are refusing to compromise or be willing to discuss matters.

Trump, who told Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle before Christmas that McCarthy “deserves the shot,” Haake said Tuesday that he had received several calls throughout the day asking for his help in the speakership case. The reporter did not give any details about the source of the calls.

Trump compared the speakership power struggle to 2015. He was speaking with Boyle last week, and he compared it to 2015, when Republicans landed with former Speaker Paul Ryan as the leader position after removing former Speaker John Boehner. He described it as “a very difficult situation.” “very dangerous game that’s being played.”

“I think it’s a very dangerous game that’s being played,” Trump stated. “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.”

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