Cassidy Hutchinson 'not confident' McCarthy’s 'a good leader for the Republican Party' — here’s why
During CNN host Jake Tapper's one-on-one interview with ex-President Donald Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson on Tuesday, September 26, The Lead with Jake Tapper host asked the aide-turned-author about her thoughts on the current state of the Republican Party, as well as how she views House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as a leader.
Tapper pointed to the fact that most 2024 Republican presidential candidates raised their hands during the first GOP debate last month in response to the moderator's question of whether they would ultimately back the MAGA hopeful as the nominee.
Hutchinson emphasized, "I was really disappointed when I saw [ex-Vice President] Mike Pence raise his hand. and Jake, I think Donald Trump has such a grip on these people, and sometimes I can't quite put my finger on why. Why is it so easy for people to go along with this and easy for these people to say what he's doing okay? They're conceding that — they are okay with waging a war on our Constitution. That is not a Republican value. That is not a an American value. Those are the types of candidates that we're looking at for 2024, though."
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Tapper then said, "I will ask about Kevin McCarthy. You, at one point, were close to him. In the book, you call him Kevin. He wasn't the Speaker but he was the House Minority Leader for the Republicans. But near the end of the book, you write about being disillusioned with McCarthy. You say, 'I started to sense a significant shift in Kevin.' What's the shift? What happened to McCarthy in your view?
Hutchinson replied, "I think that Kevin had an opportunity after January 6, as did (Senate Minority Leader) Mitch Mcconnell, as did all of the elected officials in Congress that are Republicans, to denounce what happened on January 6 and work against Trump still having a strong hold on the Republican Party. Kevin was fairly outspoken in the days after January 6 about how it was wrong. But then, after the former president left office, McCarthy went down to Mar-a-Lago, and to me that was sort of the beginning of that transformation where we kind of were able to see nothing is going to change. You know, I still have a lot of respect for Kevin. I hope for the best for him as the Speaker, especially as we see the chaos that is happening on Capitol Hill right now. But I — I'm not confident that he's a good leader for the Republican Party, because he is a talking head for Donald Trump. Kevin hasn't taken a strong stand against it and I'm confident that Kevin knows all this is wrong."
Watch the video below or at this link.
McCarthy 'knows all of this is wrong': Cassidy Hutchinsonyoutu.be
READ MORE: 'Serious danger': Cassidy Hutchinson warns GOP 'can’t wait any longer' to denounce Trump
