Former president Donald Trump endorsed Rep. Kevin McCarthy for speaker of the house in a Friday interview with Breitbart.
McCarthy faces an uphill battle in securing the speakership. His allies are engaging in aggressive tactics to gain the necessary votes.
“I like him,” Trump said of McCarthy in the interview, before launching into a tirade against former Speaker Paul Ryan. (RELATED: Pro-Censorship Activist Caught Flat Footed By Own Tweets At ‘Extremism’ Hearing)
“This guy, Paul Ryan, couldn’t have gotten elected in his own area of Wisconsin. I went with him after I won the election and we had a tremendous crowd of people and they booed him off the stage. You remember that? They booed him off the stage. This guy is now telling Fox what to do.”
Trump has endorsed McCarthy for speaker, concerned about what could happen if the Gang of 5 give an opening to the Democrats https://t.co/FKpKUtqMA6
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) December 17, 2022
When asked to clarify whether he supports McCarthy for speaker, Trump replied, “Yeah, I support McCarthy.”
“Look, I think this: Kevin has worked very hard,” Trump continued. “He is just—it’s been exhausting. If you think, he’s been all over. I think he deserves the shot. Hopefully he’s going to be very strong and going to be very good and he’s going to do what everybody wants.”
Several Republican representatives, such as Rep. Andy Biggs, who is also running for speaker, and Rep. Matt Rosendale have voiced concerns with McCarthy’s speaker bid. Trump warned these potential defectors without naming them in the interview.
“But I have to tell them, and I have told them, you’re playing a very dangerous game,” he said. “You could end up with the worse situation. I don’t even want to say what it is, but I could tell you it’s a worse situation.”