Former House speaker Kevin McCarthy endorsed former president Donald Trump for reelection in 2024 just days after announcing his retirement from Congress.
Asked in a sit-down interview with CBS News Sunday Morning whether he’d endorse Trump, McCarthy answered, “I will support President Trump.”
In a video clip released Friday ahead of Sunday’s forthcoming episode, the California Republican said he believes “Donald Trump will win” if the Democratic Party nominates President Joe Biden for a second term. If Trump returns to the White House, “Republicans will gain more seats in the House and … win the Senate,” he predicted.
“If Biden stays as the nominee for the Democrats, I believe Donald Trump will win.” Former House @SpeakerMcCarthy talks with @costareports about his future, including his openness to serving in a prospective Trump cabinet, THIS SUNDAY. pic.twitter.com/5oj2ZTNO3w
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) December 8, 2023
McCarthy also said he’d be willing to serve in a second-term Trump cabinet in “the right position” and if he’s “the best person for the job.” He continued, “I worked with President Trump on a lot of policies. We work together to win the majority, but we also have a relationship where we’re very honest with one another.”
An outspoken supporter of the former president, McCarthy previously declined to offer a 2024 endorsement for Trump while serving as speaker. Even then, however, he said Trump will win the Republican nomination and the White House next year.
While he believes Trump is the best GOP candidate for the presidency, McCarthy recently recommended that he select former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley as his running mate, given that she appeals to a wing of the party that remains hostile to the former president.
“If I was picking for purely political decisions, what it looks like today is the anti-Trump vote is going to Nikki Haley,” McCarthy said, choosing her as a potential vice president who can win over Republican and independent voters who will not support a Trump bid in any other circumstance. “If that person is with you, maybe they’d be with you too.”
McCarthy said on Wednesday he is leaving Congress by the end of the year, two months after Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) and several other Republicans ousted the California congressman from the House speakership.