Trump doubled down on support for Kevin McCarthy as House speaker

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WASHINGTON Former President Donald Trump issued a full-throated endorsement of House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday morning, hours before Republicans planned to return to the floor to try again to pick a speaker.

“Some really great conversations took place last night, and now is the time for all of our GOOD Republican House members to VOTE KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social media platform. “REPUBLICANS, DON’T MAKE A GREAT SUCCESS vindictive and humiliating.”

Trump also spoke with several lawmakers by phone on Tuesday, according to three people familiar with the calls.

“Trump talked to everybody all day,” one of them said. “People who love Kevin. People who think he’s Satan.”

For the first time in a century, the House failed to elect a speaker on Tuesday’s first ballot. By each of the three votes, McCarthy, R-Calif., fell short of the full House majority needed to win the gavel. Democrats are united behind their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, while McCarthy lost 19 House Republicans on two of the ballots and 20 on the third.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who gave one of the nomination speeches for McCarthy, was the consensus choice of the anti-McCarthy wing.

But Jordan told Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a vocal member of the loosely aligned anti-McCarthy group, said he was not interested in pursuing the speaker’s job, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

“Jim Jordan told Matt Gaetz on the House floor, he said: ‘Matt, why are you doing this?’ I don’t want to be the speaker, I want to be the chairman of the Judiciary [Committee],” he told reporters on Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear what impact Trumps redoubled public push on McCarthy’s behalf would have on House Republican holdouts, some of whom are among his staunchest allies in Congress.

Trump initially supported McCarthy publicly, but by Tuesday, his enthusiasm for McCarthy appeared to have waned.

Kevin McCarthy during the opening day of the 118th Congress at the US Capitol on Tuesday. Alex Brandon / AP

In a brief interview, Trump declined to reiterate his support for McCarthy, the longtime GOP leader.

“We’ll see what happens,” Trump said Tuesday. “Let’s see how it all works out.”

But he spoke with McCarthy on Tuesday night, offering reassurance.

“Trump has reiterated support,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday. “I talked to him tonight.

Trump, who is seeking to return to the Oval Office, runs some risk of attaching himself to another losing candidate after three consecutive elections in which Republicans have failed to meet expectations at the ballot box. But the upside is clear for him: If McCarthy wins the speakership today, Trump will surely take credit for pushing him over the line.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., the only lawmaker who defected from McCarthy’s camp to vote for another candidate on Tuesday, said his vote still counts.

“I’m not going to sit here and tell you ‘Oh it’s over with Kevin.’ I’m not saying that,” Donalds said.

Jonathan Allen is a senior national politics reporter for NBC News, based in Washington.

Ryan Nobles and Marc Caputo contributed.

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