Former President Trump attacked new Republican nominee Tom Emmer just after the majority whip won the nomination.
“I have many great friends who want to be Speaker of the House of Representatives, and some of them are truly great fighters. RINO Tom Emmer, who I don’t know well, is not one of them,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The lengthy removal could further undermine Emmer’s bid for the gavel. Twenty-six Republicans voted against Emmer in a final roll call vote after he won the nomination, far more than the four votes he could afford to lose.
“He never respected the power of a Trump endorsement, or the breadth and scope of MAGA – MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! He fought me all the time and even spent more time defending Ilhan Omar than me. He is completely out of touch with Republican voters.”
Trump continued, “I think he’s learned his lesson now because he says he’s totally pro-Trump, but who can ever know for sure? Did he only change because he needed to to win? The Republican Party cannot take that risk because the America First Voters are not there. Voting for a globalist RINO like Tom Emmer would be a tragic mistake!
Just a day ago, Trump said at an event in New Hampshire that he “always got along” with Emmer.
The 26 Republicans who voted against Emmer largely came from the Trump-aligned, far-right Freedom Caucus. But Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., the infamous McCarthy ouster and staunch Trump supporter, has pushed Emmer’s candidacy.
Emmer’s nomination comes after 21 days without the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Gaetz launched a successful motion to leave, where eight Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to impeach McCarthy.
On Monday, Republicans started with nine candidates, but they whittled down the pack until Emmer captured 117 votes — more than the 110 votes needed to secure the majority — and GOP Conference Vice Chairman Mike Johnson, R-La., who got 97, defeated. becomes the designated speaker. Five votes went to “other” candidates and one lawmaker voted “present.”
Republicans have now burned three speaker candidates since Kevin McCarthy started. The move has has paralyzed the House of Representatives, which will be unable to conduct business in less than a month until the government runs out of money again and the war between Israel and Hamas intensifies.
First, Majority Leader Steve Scalise won a vote at the conference before dropping out due to opposition. Then Republican Jim Jordan tried to run for the job and lost three votes before being ousted as the Republican Party candidate last Friday.
Whip Emmer has faced “anti-Trump” accusations and will face an uphill battle to gain enough votes in the chamber to be elected leader of the Republicans. He also faces potential vulnerability from a yes vote on the Equality Act, which passed the House of Representatives in support of same-sex marriage.
Whip Tom Emmer was an early favorite in the speaker race when he arrived at the Republican conference Tuesday morning
Rep. Byron Donalds arrived at a Republican Party Caucus meeting on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning
A Trump ally told DailyMail.com that Emmer’s vote in favor of the Equality Act is seen as a “slippery slope” for social conservatives concerned about the rise of men competing in women’s sports and other issues.
He also voted to certify the 2020 election — adding to some “never Bucket” votes.
Lawmakers held a secret ballot Tuesday on whether Republicans will actually vote for Emmer. Preliminary figures show him losing about 24 votes, but he can only afford to lose four in a full vote.
Much of the hesitation among far-right members of the conference is the difficult issue of Trump.
While the former president has not explicitly spoken out against Emmer, he amplified a Truth Social post by Laura Loomer, who attacked the majority whip as a “Trump-hating congresswoman.”
A source familiar told DailyMail.com that Emmer and Trump spoke over the weekend and called it a “productive” conversation.
Trump confirmed Monday during a campaign stop in New Hampshire that the pair spoke, but declined to go into details, saying he plans to stay above the fray.
“I think he’s my biggest fan now because he called me yesterday. He said to me, ‘I’m your biggest fan.’ So I don’t know anything about that,” Trump said of Emmer.
But Emmer’s supporters say the push to brand him as anti-Trump shows the former president’s allies have “nothing left in the tank.”
Emmer’s allies also told DailyMail.com that he has been in contact with the MAGA camp over the weekend and that his supporters are in weekly contact with Trump’s top surrogates. The whip even features an autographed photo of Trump in his Capitol office.
House Whip Tom Emmer, the No. 3 Republican, has the public support of a half-dozen colleagues, including former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has said he “knows how to do his job.”
All Democrats in the House are expected to vote for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. But Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota has indicated he can vote “present” during the vote, lowering Emmer’s threshold.
Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-California, disputes this, saying there are still “significant hurdles” to preventing this.
Republicans held a candidate forum Monday evening where all nine declared speaker candidates made their case.
Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., dropped out of the original nine-way race at the start of the forum last night because he didn’t have the support needed to compete.
On Tuesday morning, Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., was the next to withdraw before the voting series began, saying that if his withdrawal “helps speed up” the process, he would “happy” to step aside.
During the first vote Tuesday, Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, was eliminated after receiving just eight votes.
Majority Whip Tom Emmer — the frontrunner — got 78, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., got 34, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., got 29, and Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., got 28 Reps. Jack Bergman of Michigan and Austin Scott of Georgia followed behind the pack.
Bergman was dropped after receiving seven votes in the second ballot, leaving five names heading into the third round.
Emmer notably increased his support to 90 votes, while Johnson received 37 votes, followed by Donalds on 33, Hern on 31 and Scott on 14 in the second round.
Rep. Mike Johnson spoke to reporters ahead of Republicans’ closed-door meeting to choose their next chairman
Bergman said after his loss that “the House of Representatives needs a speaker” and that the Republican Party needs to get to work. He pledged to support the future candidate for president and said lawmakers should not leave the conference until they are “confident” a candidate can get 217 votes.
During the third round of voting, Scott was removed from the ticket, leaving four candidates.
Emmer received the most votes so far with 100, Johnson trailing 43, Donalds with 32 and Hern with 26.
Despite the farce of the past 21 days, some party members were optimistic they could reach a resolution and return to work.
“I think we’re going to resolve this tomorrow night,” Rep. Don Bacon, a moderate Nebraskan who voted against Jordan last week, told reporters Monday.
Asked if he agreed that the process would be completed by Tuesday evening, speaker candidate Kevin Hern, R-Okla., told DailyMail.com: “Yes, I do.”
“I think it’s possible,” said Rep. Byron Donalds, another speaker candidate.
“I don’t know if anyone wants to continue beyond tomorrow,” said Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas. “We report and work for the American people, and they have said, ‘Get your house in order.'”
But as of Tuesday morning, Republicans were far from united behind one candidate.
When asked if he agreed that the process would be completed by Tuesday evening, speaker candidate Kevin Hern (right) told DailyMail.com: “Yes I do.” He will attend the ongoing GOP conference Tuesday morning
Rep. Steve Scalise spoke to reporters as he arrived at a GOP Caucus meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday
Gaetz said he was promised the “complete release” of the Jan. 6 tapes by every candidate in the room, but was “most encouraged” by the candidates who planned single-issue spending and pledged aid to Israel and Ukraine cannot be linked together.
Rep. Dusty Johnson, a pragmatist from South Dakota, was less optimistic about finding a speaker by Tuesday.
“I like to be an optimist, but I can tell you that the past four weeks haven’t given me much reason to be optimistic that Republicans will get it done. We continue to see these tight margins,” he said.