House Republicans stick by Trump as other GOP members turn on him

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19 June 2023

While many former allies are turning on Donald Trump, House Republicans are still in the former president’s corner.

Conservative Charlie Sykes wrote a column about Trump’s inner circle turning on him, citing recent comments from people who were in his cabinet or were highly ranked in his administration. Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a Fox and Friends appearance last week, where he said Trump’s alleged keeping of classified documents was “inconsistent with protecting America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.”

Trump’s former Attorney General William Barr called the ex-president “a consummate narcissist” and “a defiant 9-year-old kid” on Face the Nation this Sunday.

“Our country can’t be a therapy session for a troubled man like this,” Barr said.

“This was a case entirely of his own making,” he added. “He had no right to those documents. The government tried over a year, quietly and with respect, to get them back—which it was essential that they do — and he jerked them around. And he had no legal basis for keeping them.”

Former Defense Secretary under Trump, Mark Esper, accused him of risking the country’s national security. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie cracked jokes at Trump’s expense during a CNN town hall last week. And, of course, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ presidential bid has pitted him against the former president he once was a proud supporter of.

While many voices of the GOP are against Trump, in the House of Representatives, he’s still popular. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) defended Trump last week, pointing out that storing documents in a bathroom wasn’t a problem as “a bathroom door locks.” McCarthey compared the situation to President Joe Biden’s, who was discovered to have left some classified documents in a garage, which McCarthy said “opens up all the time.”

Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL) agreed, saying that the ex-president’s residence at Mar-a-Lago is not entirely open to the public, telling CNN that “you can’t just walk through Mar-a-Lago on your own accord.”

Over 50 U.S. representatives have endorsed Trump, according to Insider. Georgia Representatives Andrew Clyde and Mike Collins both endorsed him this month, as did North Carolina Representative Richard Hudson. On Monday, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, also of Georgia, shared a poll on Twitter showing a 51% to 21% lead over DeSantis.

“President Trump is the top choice for Republican voters in 2024, including women, and the margins only continue to grow. The primary is over. President Trump is the man the people want in 2024! #MAGA,” she tweeted.

Comparatively, only five House members endorsed DeSantis, according to NBC News, and another has endorsed Nikki Haley. In the Senate, 11 senators have endorsed the former president, and only two governors—Jim Justice of West Virginia and Henry McMaster of South Carolina—have.

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