Trump Has Been Bashing McCarthy Over Jan. 6 in His Calls Trying to Corral Votes For Him, Haberman Reports

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File

Former President Donald Trump has invoked Kevin McCarthy’s attempt to censure him after the Capitol attack while trying to convince GOP holdouts to support his bid for speaker.

McCarthy failed to capture a simple majority of votes for the eighth time this week on Thursday afternoon. More than 20 House Republicans simply refuse to vote for him for varying reasons. Trump has supported McCarthy in private calls to some holdouts, Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported.

According to Haberman, Trump’s calls to far-right lawmakers have been “dispassionate”:

Mr. Trump complained to some Republican lawmakers about Mr. McCarthy’s push to censure him after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and spoke of his support for him in dispassionate terms.

“Kevin is not perfect,” Mr. Trump has privately told lawmakers.

Still, Mr. Trump has told them that he views Mr. McCarthy as the only House Republican capable of winning enough votes to become speaker, the same reason advisers say he backed Mr. McCarthy in the first place. When some have asked whether they should trust Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Trump has responded by saying they can vote him out if they want, under the new powers Mr. McCarthy has agreed to.

McCarthy briefly criticized Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and floated the idea of censuring him.

“I believe impeaching the president in such a short time frame would be a mistake,” McCarthy said on the House floor a week after the riot. “That doesn’t mean the president is free from fault. The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters.”

Trump was impeached after he left office but never censured. McCarthy flew to Trump’s home weeks after the Capitol attack, which drew criticism from both sides of the aisle.

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