Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) is not taking advice from former President Donald Trump to support House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) bid for speaker.
Speaking on the House floor Wednesday to nominate Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) for speaker, Boebert said, “Let’s stop with the campaign smears and tactics to get people to turn against us, even having my favorite president call us and tell us we need to knock this off.”
“I think it actually needs to be reversed. The president needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that, ‘Sir, you do not have the votes, and it’s time to withdraw,'” she added.
Watch the video below:
In remarks nominating Byron Donalds for House Speaker on the fifth ballot, Lauren Boebert says former President Trump "needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that, 'sir, you do not have the votes, and it's time to withdraw'" to an audible reaction from the chamber. pic.twitter.com/FOWFbQMSrz
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) January 4, 2023
In the weeks leading up to the speaker’s vote, Trump made calls seeking to convince House Republicans to back McCarthy.
And on Wednesday morning, he wrote, “Some really good conversations took place last night, and it’s now time for all of our GREAT Republican House Members to VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY, [and] WATCH CRAZY NANCY PELOSI FLY BACK HOME TO A VERY BROKEN CALIFORNIA,THE ONLY SPEAKER IN U.S. HISTORY TO HAVE LOST THE ‘HOUSE’ TWICE!”
“REPUBLICANS, DO NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT [and] EMBARRASSING DEFEAT. IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE, YOU DESERVE IT. Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB – JUST WATCH!” he added.
McCarthy lost two ballots on Tuesday, with 19 Republicans voting for other candidates. And he lost a third ballot the same day as the number of defectors grew to 20.
It marked the first time since 1923 the House needed to take more than one vote to decide who the next speaker will be.
On the fourth ballot, 201 Republicans voted for McCarthy, 212 voted for incoming House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), and 20 Republicans voted for Donalds.
While Jeffries has repeatedly won the most votes of all the candidates, he has not hit the required 218 votes needed to win the speaker’s gavel.
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) voted present on the fourth ballot.
In a statement, Spartz explained her decision as she said, “We have a constitutional duty to elect the Speaker of the House, but we have to deliberate further as a Republican conference until we have enough votes and stop wasting everyone’s time. None of the Republican candidates have this number yet.”
— Rep. Victoria Spartz (@RepSpartz) January 4, 2023
McCarthy appeared to be on track to lose on the fifth ballot.
