House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy — nominated this week to be Speaker of the House in the new Congress — was asked by reporters on Wednesday whether he was prepared to endorse former President Donald Trump following the 45th president's Tuesday night announcement that he'd seek to become the 47th president in 2024.
But McCarthy didn't have an answer to that question, nor did he give his verdict on Trump's day-old third presidential campaign.
"You seem to follow me more often than you did in the past," McCarthy can be heard joking in audio of the conversation, along with shoes pounding Capitol Hill's floors as reporters jockeyed to get comments from the aspiring House Speaker on the upcoming transition of power in the House of Representatives.
The first time McCarthy was asked if he was "prepared to endorse" Trump, he didn't respond. The second time, when ABC News' Katherine Faulders put it more bluntly — "Do you endorse him?" — McCarthy's only response was "you guys are crazy."
McCARTHY won’t say whether he’ll endorse Donald Trump for president.
— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) November 16, 2022
Me: “Are you prepared to endorse him [Trump]?”
Silence from @GOPLeader. @KFaulders: “Will you endorse him?”
McCarthy: “You guys are crazy” pic.twitter.com/ppLwIXgB6D
In the days before last Tuesday's midterm elections, the former president publicly stated his support for McCarthy to be elected as the next Speaker of the House, along with his support for Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to continue as GOP Conference Chair.
But McCarthy, at least when asked by reporters on Wednesday, wasn't so ready to return the endorsement favor to Trump in his third presidential bid, suggesting that the at-times tense relationship between the House Republican Leader and the former president might not be entirely squashed.
Previously, as heard on a recording released by The New York Times, McCarthy told Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) in the wake of January 6, 2021 that "the only discussion I would have with [Trump] is that I think this [impeachment resolution] will pass, and it would be my recommendation [Trump] should resign."
McCarthy faced a GOP challenger in his bid to receive his party's nomination for Speaker in Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, and the current GOP Leader now faces a tightrope walk between keeping Trump's supporters in the House GOP ranks on his side while also not ostracizing more centrist members of the Republican conference.
With the narrow majority Republicans secured last week, he needs to keep both sides from defecting in any significant number, which may be the reason for his non-answer when asked about backing Trump's new presidential campaign.
After the audio revealing his stated belief that Trump should step down after January 6 was released and aired on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show, McCarthy was asked whether he was concerned the sentiment he expressed privately would hurt his chances of becoming Speaker after the midterms. McCarthy's response? "Nope."
Now he's banking on that confidence and facing an increasingly tough balancing act to ensure he gets the votes necessary to seal the deal when the full House picks the new Speaker in January. In this week's GOP leadership meetings, McCarthy received backing from 188 of the 219 Republicans present. He'll need roughly 218 votes in January to seal the deal, 30 more than he received this week.
Some House Republicans, including Reps. Chip Roy (TX) and Matt Gaetz (FL) said this week that McCarthy doesn't have 218 votes locked down in order to grab the gavel. "I don't think he has 200," Gaetz added on Monday.