Kevin McCarthy Walks Back Critique of Trump’s Candidacy, Calls Him ‘Biden’s Strongest Political Opponent’

McCarthy for Congress

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy walked back a critique of Donald Trump’s candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election on Tuesday afternoon just hours after he first made it.

In an interview with CNBC’s Joe Kernen on Tuesday morning, McCarthy was asked if it was “good for the Republican Party if Donald Trump is the nominee?” and if he could win a general election against President Joe Biden.

McCarthy affirmed that Trump could beat Biden, but then submitted that “the question is, is he the strongest to win the election?”

“I don’t know that answer, but can anybody beat Biden? Yeah, anybody can beat Biden. Can Biden beat other people? Yes, Biden can beat them. It’s on any given day,” he argued.

But in an interview granted to Breitbart, McCarthy insisted that he didn’t mean his comments to be taken as a knock on Trump, who helped McCarthy secure the Speaker’s gavel earlier this year.

“As usual, the media is attempting to drive a wedge between President Trump and House Republicans as our committees are holding Biden’s DOJ accountable for their two-tiered levels of justice,” said McCarthy. “The only reason Biden is using his weaponized federal government to go after President Trump is because he is Biden’s strongest political opponent, as polling continues to show.”

“Just look at the numbers this morning—Trump is stronger today than he was in 2016,” he continued, citing a Morning Consult poll showing Trump ahead of Biden in a hypothetical rematch of the 2020 presidential election, 44%-41%.

McCarthy has a long and complicated relationship with Trump. In 2021, McCarthy said that Trump bore “responsibility” for the January 6 Capitol riot, but he nevertheless voted to acquit him during an impeachment vote related to the riot and to travel to Mar-a-Lago to mend fences with the former president, who backed his bid for the speakership after the 2022 midterms.

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