Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was unceremoniously ousted by hard-right conservatives after 269 days in office, is now endorsing former President Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election bid. “I believe [he] will win, I believe that Republicans will gain more seats in the House and that Republicans will win the Senate,” McCarthy told CBS News’ Robert Costa in a preview of an upcoming interview. He and Trump, McCarthy said, are “very honest with one another.”
Pressed by Acosta to say whether his statements amounted to an endorsement of the former president, McCarthy responded, “I will support President Trump.”
McCarthy announced on Wednesday that he would be retiring from Congress at the end of the month, joining a mass exodus of more than 30 representatives, most of which have been voluntary, with one notable exception.
In a Wall Street Journal article explaining his departure, the California Representative promised to “continue to recruit our country’s best and brightest to run for elected office.” In the weeks after he lost the top House job, McCarthy had hinted that he’d seek to punish the eight Republicans, including Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, who voted for the initial “motion to vacate,” which set his eventual ouster in motion.
In the CBS interview, McCarthy also addressed the possibility of nabbing a cabinet position in a future Trump White House. “In the right position, if I am the best person for the job, yes,” McCarthy told Costa. “I worked with President Trump on a lot of policy. We worked together to win the majority.”
McCarthy’s cabinet comments come after an Axios report on Thursday revealed that Trump is mulling an extremely far-right slate of picks for a potential future cabinet, including Tucker Carlson, Stephen Miller, and Steve Bannon.
The Trump campaign distanced itself from the report on Friday. “Unless a message is coming directly from President Trump or an authorized member of his campaign team, no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be deemed official,” wrote Trump senior advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita. The two added that “people publicly discussing potential administration jobs for themselves or their friends are, in fact, hurting President Trump … and themselves. These are an unwelcomed distraction.”
McCarthy’s warm words for Trump are just the latest development in an up-and-down relationship. McCarthy famously gave a speech soon after the January 6 attack arguing that Trump “bears responsibility” for the events of that day, before proceeding to go to Mar-a-Lago to ask for forgiveness and do a conciliatory photo-op. (In her latest book, former congresswoman Liz Cheney says McCarthy claimed his visit to Mar-a-Lago came out of concern for Trump’s health, telling her, “Trump’s not eating, so they asked me to come see him.”) During his ill-fated attempt to keep the speaker’s gavel, McCarthy reportedly never reached out to the ex-president for help.
And in a phone call weeks after the historic ouster, McCarthy cursed at Trump after the former president went after him for not expunging his two impeachments or endorsing him in the 2024 presidential race, The Washington Post reported in November, citing people familiar with the conversation. McCarthy responded by telling Trump, “Fuck you.” (A McCarthy spokesman denied this at the time.)
Jack McCordick
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