Former U.S. President Donald Trump called on Republicans to vote for GOP leader Kevin McCarthy in the election for Speaker of the House of Representatives after he failed to vote for him 3 times.
“It is time for the great Republicans in the House of Representatives to vote for Kevin,” the former president wrote on his Truth social network.
He added: “Don’t turn a big win (by-elections) into a giant and embarrassing defeat.”
McCarthy failed in his first, second and third bids for Speaker of the House on Tuesday.
That, as well as the Republican Majority Leader, announced his continued participation in the election for the presidency of the US House of Representatives during the scheduled fourth round on Wednesday, after a three-round failure due to disagreements between representatives of the Republicans. while former President Donald Trump has declared his support for it.
He said he will continue to fight for the Speaker of the House despite failing to win the required number of votes in 3 ballots after 20 members of his party rebelled against him, a precedent that has not been seen in a century. .
In the first and second rounds, McCarthy won 203 votes, trailing Democratic Minority Leader Hakim Jeffreys, who was a token nominee, but he won the full 212 Democratic votes, so that his party united behind his back and the split spilled over to the other side of Parliament.
A majority of 218 votes is required to elect the Speaker of the House, a threshold that Kevin McCarthy failed to reach over three ballots.
Source: agencies