Donald Trump on Saturday took credit for Kevin McCarthy’s hard-fought election to House Speaker, boasting that he did the country “a big favor.”
Trump, who earlier appeared to back away from McCarthy as the California Republican lost vote after humiliating vote, pat himself on the back for “greatly help[ing] McCarthy attain the position of Speaker of the House.”
“Thank you, I did the Country a big favor!” Trump wrote on his social media site.
He even claimed the “fake news” was “very gracious” in reporting his crucial help, pointing out stories from far-right media outlets noting that McCarthy thanked Trump for his support after finally pulling off a win late Friday following a record 15 votes.
Following a statement from McCarthy to “especially thank President Trump,” he posted a video of it and responded: “Thank you Kevin. It was my great honor!”
As recently as Tuesday, however, the former president was asked on NBC News if he would continue to support McCarthy after losing in three Speaker ballots. Trump vaguely responded: “Let’s see what happens.”
“I got everybody calling me wanting my support. But let’s see what happens, and we’ll go — I got everybody calling, wanting my support,” Trump said. “That’s all I can say. But we’ll see what happens. We’ll see how it all works out.”
Trump had previously urged House Republicans to stand behind McCarthy or risk having a far worse speaker.
Following McCarthy’s 14th failed vote Friday night, his allies moved to adjourn until Monday. But as the vote to adjourn was underway, McCarthy holdout Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) reportedly took a call from Trump encouraging him to clear a path for McCarthy. Trump also reportedly called Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), urging him to do the same.
