AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) may have credited Donald Trump with helping to influence his ascent to the role of Speaker of the House, but a number of Republican holdouts rebuked his claim this week in comments to ABC News.
McCarthy was quick to thank Trump after becoming House speaker following 15 votes over the course of multiple days, with holdouts like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) repeatedly holding up the vote, demanding rules changes and concessions from McCarthy.
A number of those “Never Kevin” Republicans told ABC News that McCarthy was off base when he credited Trump for his victory, with one lawmaker even declaring the former president had absolutely no influence on any votes changing.
“President Trump had no influence on the votes, myself or any of my colleagues,” Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) said.
According to Good, it became “inevitable” that McCarthy would become speaker and he simply didn’t want to “prolong” the process even more.
Rep. Ralph Northam (R-SC) actually criticized Trump for getting involved
“In fact, I disagreed with him getting involved,” Northam said.
Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) was pictured on the House floor waving off Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) when she was handing him a phone connected to Trump. The Republican lawmaker also told ABC that Trump had no influence on his vote.
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), who was nominated by colleagues for House speaker multiple times, also dismissed Trump influencing his support. The one lawmaker who did claim Trump had “influence in the process” was Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA).
The collection of comments have slim chance of pleasing Trump. The former president celebrated McCarthy’s thank you by actually offering rare compliments to the “fake news media” for covering McCarthy’s comments. On Truth Social, he then posted a wall of stories on McCarthy’s thank you, including one from Mediaite.
CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane also questioned Trump’s influence over the speaker vote not long after McCarthy’s victory. The reporter told Mediaite editor-in-chief Aidan McLaughlin on The Interview that he heard no Republicans mentioning Trump in “any impactful way” during tense negotiations.