Former President Donald Trump was derided for having some of his staunch supporters holding out against House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., but Trump’s dramatic call to House chamber to Reps. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., is credited for closing the deal.
“Thank you Kevin,” Trump posted Saturday morning to Truth Social, along with video of the newly tapped speaker hailing Trump’s late-night call. “It was my great honor!”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., an advocate for the rights of the imprisoned Jan. 6 defendants, tweeted photos of the calls from Trump to the six holdouts standing firm against McCarthy through the 14th failed vote.
“I do want to especially thank President Trump,” McCarthy, once a critic of Trump from Jan. 6, 2021, told reporters after his speaker acceptance speech and the swearing-in of members. “I don’t think anybody should doubt his influence. He was with me from the beginning. Somebody wrote the doubt of whether he was there. And he was all in. He would call me and he would call others.
“He really was — and I was just talking to him tonight — helping get those final votes.”
Trump’s calls to the six holdouts against McCarthy came as Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., had to be restrained by Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., when shouting down Gaetz for continuing to hold out, forcing a potential vote to adjourn until Monday and, ultimately, a 15th vote that proved to be successful.
As tempers cooled, within the hour, McCarthy and Trump had persuaded the holdouts to vote “present,” lowering the vote total necessary for McCarthy to win and handing him the speakership by early Saturday morning.
“I hope one thing is clear,” McCarthy said when he finally took the gavel after 1 a.m. ET. “I never give up.”
The chaos on the House floor came exactly two years after the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol. During a late-night session after that attack, McCarthy called it the “saddest day I’ve ever had” as a member of Congress. In the days afterward, McCarthy blamed Trump for encouraging his supporters, who attacked the building and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden.
But just a few weeks later, McCarthy traveled to see Trump in Florida and made amends.
While many lawmakers denounced Trump at the time, McCarthy’s Florida visit brought him back into the fold; and the former president was working the phones Friday evening, calling Gaetz and the other holdouts.
“What he’s really saying, for the party and the country, that we have to come together,” McCarthy told reporters after taking the speaker’s gavel from Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
“We have to focus on the economy and we have to focus to make our border secure. We’ve got so much work to do, and he was a great influence to make that all happen.
“So, thank you, President Trump.”