Kevin McCarthy Thanks Trump after Speakership Win: ‘I Don’t Think Anybody Should Doubt His Influence’
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Kevin McCarthy thanked former president Donald Trump early Saturday morning for helping him finally secure a win in the 15th round of voting for the House speakership.
“I do want to especially thank President Trump,” McCarthy told reporters. “I don’t think anybody should doubt his influence. He was with me from the beginning … he was all in.”
“He would call me, and he would call others. He really was — I was just talking to him tonight — helping get those final votes,” McCarthy said. “What he’s really saying, really, for the party and the country, that we have to come together. We have to focus on the economy. We’ve got to focus, make our borders secure. We gotta do so much work to do, and he was a great influence to make that all happen. So, thank you President Trump.”
McCarthy at last clinched the speakership just after midnight Saturday after an all-week marathon of ballots and negotiations and a heated final stretch on the House floor.
Representatives Andy Biggs and Eli Crane of Arizona, Bob Good of Virginia, and Matt Rosendale of Montana all voted “present” in the 15th round, helping to lower the threshold of votes needed to win. Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado voted “present” in both the 14th and 15th rounds as well. McCarthy narrowly won with 216 votes, having needed 215. Democrat Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) earned 212.
Trump spoke to GOP holdouts throughout the voting process. He attempted to gin up support for McCarthy on Wednesday.
“[I]t’s now time for all of our GREAT Republican House Members to VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY, & WATCH CRAZY NANCY PELOSI FLY BACK HOME TO A VERY BROKEN CALIFORNIA, THE ONLY SPEAKER IN U.S. HISTORY TO HAVE LOST THE ‘HOUSE’ TWICE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
However, Boebert suggested on the House floor on Wednesday that Trump should tell McCarthy, “Sir, you do not have the votes, and it’s time to withdraw.”
Trump spoke to holdouts over the phone as the 15th round of voting came down to the wire. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.,) was seen passing a phone to Rosendale with Trump on the line shortly before the Montana Republican switched his vote to “present” after rounds of voting for other candidates besides McCarthy. Trump also reportedly spoke to Biggs and Gaetz before the pair changed their own votes to “present,” according to ABC News.
Trump responded to McCarthy’s comments on Saturday saying, “Thank you, Kevin. It was my great honor!”
“The ‘Speaker’ selection process, as crazy as it may seem, has made it all much bigger and more important than if done the more conventional way,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Congratulations to Kevin McCarthy and our GREAT Republican Party!”
