GOP Dissident Pompously Rejects Trump’s Phone Call, But Quickly Reversed his Earlier Vote

by

Ahead of voting in the 14th ballot on Friday night, House Republicans were cautiously optimistic they might be able to carry GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy over the finish line. As it turned out, it was the 15th round that put him over the top to become the speaker of the House for the 118th Congress.

The 14th ballot ended with 216 rep.-elects voting for McCarthy, 212 for Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, two each for Republicans Andy Biggs of Arizona and Jim Jordan of Ohio, and two votes of “present” from GOP dissidents Matt Gaetz of Florida and Lauren Bobert of Colorado. The two present votes lowered the number required to win the speakership to 217 leaving McCarthy just one vote shy of victory.

Needless to say, members exerted tremendous pressure on Gaetz and Bobert to throw their support behind McCarthy and on the four Republicans who had voted for Biggs and Jordan, which included Rep.-elect Matt Rosendale of Montana, to switch their votes to present, which would lower the threshold for victory.

Prior to the close of voting in the 14th round, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was speaking to former President Donald Trump on her phone in the House Chamber. Trump had apparently asked to speak to Rosendale to persuade him to change his vote. When Greene approached him with her phone clearly showing the caller was “DT,” Rosendale raised his hand to indicate he would not take the call.

Greene tweeted a photograph of her interaction with Rosendale with the caption, “It was the perfect phone call.” This was a reference to Trump’s description of his July 2019 telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky which triggered his first impeachment.

According to Punchbowl News editor Heather Caygle, this exchange occurred at the same time as Alabama Rep.-elect Mike Rogers confronted Gaetz. (Fox News reported that Rogers had lunged at Gaetz over what he saw as obstructionism and had to be restrained by his colleagues.)

Caygle tweeted, “MTG was telling Rosendale she has Trump on her phone and he needed to talk to the former president right then[.] Rosendale shouted repeatedly, ‘don’t you ever do me like that!'”

She did not name the member[s] she had spoken to.

Some on social media were quick to declare Rosendale’s rejection of Trump’s call as a sign of the former president’s waning influence in Washington, D.C.

It’s worth noting, however, that despite Rosendale’s refusal to speak to Trump, he switched his vote from Biggs to present on the final ballot, smoothing the way for a McCarthy victory.

Moreover, The New York Times reported that Trump had called both Gaetz and Biggs after the 14th ballot.

Following those calls, Gaetz reversed his vote to adjourn the session until Monday morning. And Biggs changed his vote to present in the 15th ballot, as did the three others who had voted for Biggs or Jordan in the previous round.

So it may be a bit premature to write Trump’s political obituary.

 

A previous version of this article appeared in The Western Journal.

If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN

Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
Parler: https://parler.com/AFNNUSA
CloutHub: @AFNN_USA

Post Views: 34

1 thought on “GOP Dissident Pompously Rejects Trump’s Phone Call, But Quickly Reversed his Earlier Vote”

  1. The GOP officially joins the UniParty as Kevin McCarthy follows previous GOP incompetents John Boehner (now pushing grass), Denny Hastert (who liked young boys) and Paul Ryan (just another RINO).

    It may be time to put a fork in the GOP. It appears to be done.

Leave a Comment