‘Thank You, President Trump’: McCarthy Credits Ex-Prez for Speakership, Says Trump’s Grip on Republicans Is Firm

The 118th Congress began with its speaker of the House thanking former President Donald Trump for getting him elected to the chamber’s highest office.

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, newly minted Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told reporters the king of MAGA pushed him over the top on the 15th ballot held since Tuesday.

McCarthy endured a slog of a week, as a handful of House Republicans refused to back him while casting him as insufficiently conservative and beholden to lobbyists. Though he had Trump’s backing, McCarthy became the first speaker who needed more than one roll call vote to ascend to the position since 1923.

Addressing reporters in the Capitol just after 2 a.m. on Saturday, McCarthy praised Trump and said the former president’s hold on the party is still intact:

But I do want to especially thank President Trump. I don’t think you should doubt–anybody should doubt his influence. He was with me from the beginning… And he was all in. He would call me and he would call others.

And he really was – I was just talking to him tonight – helping get those final votes. And 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 border secure. We’ve got to do so much work to do, and he was a great influence to make that all happen. So, thank you, President Trump.

McCarthy failed on the 14th ballot – which he predicted he’d win earlier in the day – after Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) voted “Present,” and four other Republicans voted for other candidates, thus denying McCarthy the majority of votes needed to become speaker.

He ultimately prevailed on the 15th ballot.

Watch above via CNN.