Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) revealed the reason he nominated former President Donald Trump for House speaker during the prolonged vote in January, which lasted 15 ballots.
The firebrand Florida congressman told Jeremy Herrell, host of the online show Live From America TV, he nominated the former president so Trump would stop calling him.
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“President Trump found that to be very interesting, and I wanted a way to stop him from calling me,” Gaetz said when asked about the move.
Gaetz was the only person to vote for Trump for House speaker, doing so in rounds seven and eight. He never voted for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) during any of the rounds of voting, instead opting to vote for other individuals, including Reps. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Jim Jordan (R-OH). In the final round of voting, Gaetz and the other “never-Kevin” members of Congress voted “present,” which cleared the way for McCarthy to be elected speaker.
Trump had endorsed McCarthy for speaker and was on the phone attempting to convince holdout members of Congress to vote for the California Republican. Nearly all of the “never-Kevin” holdouts had closely aligned themselves with Trump.
McCarthy ultimately credited Trump for his eventual victory in the speaker vote, saying that his influence on the GOP should not be questioned.
“I do want to especially thank President Trump,” McCarthy told reporters after the vote. “I don’t think anybody should doubt his influence.”
Despite tension during the extended speaker vote, McCarthy praised Gaetz for getting the remaining holdouts to allow him to win the speakership.
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“It became a tie and … Matt really wanted to get everybody there. Through all of this, people’s emotions go up and down. At the end of the night, Matt got everybody there to the point that nobody voted against it. It actually helped unite,” McCarthy said.
Gaetz, a harsh critic of McCarthy during the speaker vote saga, said a month after the vote that he was pleased with McCarthy’s tenure.
