Former President Donald Trump says that he believes that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy played right into the Democrats’ hands with bad negotiations, which cost him his speakership.
“These are the worst negotiators I’ve ever seen,” Trump told Just the News’ John Solomon in the Association of Mature American Citizens 2024 presidential election town hall series.
“I’ve never seen negotiators like this,” he continued. “They get nothing. And I told Kevin, ‘if you do this, I believe you’re going to lose your speakership.'”
McCarthy was ousted from his role as House speaker by eight House Republicans earlier this week. Many of them initially opposed McCarthy’s speakership, and cited recent budget negotiations as the reason for ousting him.
Prior to his ousting, McCarthy had negotiated a compromise plan with the White House to limit the growth of federal spending. That agreement, however, did not address the 12 remaining appropriations bills that largely address the needs of executive agencies, which many Republicans had an issue with.
“In all fairness to him, he wanted to do what he thought was the right thing,” Trump said in reference to McCarthy. “And I personally think he played right into the Democrats’ hands, but he lost his speakership over it.”
The House is set to vote on a new speaker next week and Trump has already thrown his support behind House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan.
Jordan and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) announced their candidacies for the position on Wednesday.