LAS VEGAS — Former House Speaker and California GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy said Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is equipped to continue leading the party.
“Very much so,” McCarthy replied when asked by the Washington Examiner on Thursday whether he had confidence in McDaniel’s ability in her role.
He also told reporters at former President Donald Trump’s caucus night victory party in Las Vegas that he isn’t interested in the chairman role at the RNC should she choose to step down.
Speculation over McCarthy assuming the post was first stoked by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who was one of the eight Republicans responsible for McCarthy’s ouster as speaker. Gaetz said on social media he fully endorsed McCarthy for the position, noting, “The RNC Chair doesn’t make any policy decisions, set any agenda, or negotiate against Democrats, ever. Kevin would be terrific.”
McCarthy rejected the idea and said McDaniel doesn’t need to step down. “She does a really good job. It’s up to her,” he said.
A faction of the Republican Party has been very vocal in their displeasure with McDaniel’s leadership at the helm of the RNC, including dozens of the 168 committeemen and women. Turning Point Action said between 50 and 70 committee members attended its “alternate RNC meeting” last month, which overlapped with the RNC’s winter meeting and took place in the same city.
Even Trump has apparently soured on McDaniel, recently saying, “I think she knows that” she should step aside. “I think she understands that.”
Trump has recommended North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley to take over for her, according to a source familiar. Trump was appreciative of Whatley’s efforts to “stop the steal” during the 2020 election when Biden defeated the former president.
“He’s a really good chairman,” McCarthy said of Whatley.
As for Gaetz, McCarthy claimed, “I think people see now how far Matt Gaetz will go and the fear he has of what’s in the ethics complaint.”
A new report revealed Friday that Joel Greenberg is cooperating with the House Ethics Committee in its investigation of claims Gaetz engaged in sexual relations with an underage girl while in Congress.
“He’s trying to protect himself,” McCarthy said, “and that harms our caucus, that harms our majority.”
He further predicted, “In the end, people will see why Gaetz would want to do that. And I think in the end, Gaetz would have a hard time being a member of Congress with staying out of jail too.”
Regarding the latest report, a spokesperson for Gaetz said, “The DOJ received the same material, deemed it unreliable, and declined to press charges.”
“The press should not be laundering smears from people in prison,” the statement continued.
McCarthy said he met with Trump backstage before his Thursday caucus victory speech and lamented the former president was criminally charged for mishandling classified documents taken from the White House, while President Joe Biden will not face indictment.
The California Republican weighed in on Biden’s mental state after special counsel Robert Hur released his report declining to charge the president for mishandling classified documents but characterized Biden, 81, as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
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“I’ve had personal experience with President Biden in the White House that I questioned his capabilities,” McCarthy said.
The White House reacted forcefully to the contents of Hur’s report, painting it as politically motivated and inaccurate in its characterization of Biden’s memory.
