As U.S. House speaker fight drags on,
Republican holdout votes for Trump
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[January 06, 2023]
By Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A day after Republicans in the U.S. House of
Representatives rejected Donald Trump's plea to support Kevin McCarthy's
campaign for speaker, one of McCarthy's hardline opponents cast his vote
for the former president. |
![](../images/010623PIX/news_l35.jpg)
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Rep.
Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) laugh together on the floor of the House
of Representatives as a 7th round of voting for a new Speaker begins on
the third day of the 118th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington,
U.S., January 5, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein |
Representative Matt Gaetz, one of 20 House hardliners who have
rejected McCarthy, cast his ballot for Trump in a seventh round of
voting. He was the only member to do so, leaving Trump far short of
the 218 votes needed.
Republicans won a narrower-than-expected 222-212 majority in
November's midterm election, a result that some in the party blamed
in part on Trump backing inexperienced or far-right candidates. That
narrow majority has given the small hardline group outsized
influence.
Gaetz in particular has been a thorn in McCarthy's side, insisting
there was nothing the California lawmaker could do to win his
support.
The U.S. Constitution does not state that the speaker of the House
needs to be a member of the House, though no outsider has held the
role.
Republican strategists said that the House hardliners' rejection of
Trump's plea to vote for McCarthy illustrated the former president's
weakening hold on the party he reshaped.
Asked about Gaetz's move, a Trump representative on Thursday
referred back to Trump's Wednesday post urging "VOTE FOR KEVIN."
Gaetz did not comment on his nomination of Trump.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone
and Howard Goller)
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