House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday signaled some doubts about whether former President Donald Trump can defeat President Joe Biden and return to the White House, but agreed that Trump's policies are better.
At first, in an interview on CNBC, the California Republican, when asked if Trump can defeat Biden in the November 2024, general election, the speaker said, "Yeah, he can beat Biden," as his "policies are better, [more] straightforward than Biden's policies."
But when asked if Trump can win, considering he is facing two criminal indictments, McCarthy showed some doubts in his answer.
"Can he win that election?" said McCarthy. "Yeah, he can. The question is, Is he the strongest to win the election? I don't know that answer."
But still, he said, "Can somebody — can anybody beat Biden? Yeah, anybody can beat Biden. Can Biden beat other people? Yes, Biden can beat them."
The speaker's office didn't respond to a request for comment about his mixed signals on the program.
Trump is facing a 37-count federal indictment over his handling of classified documents taken when he left the White House, and separate charges filed in April by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, in which he faces 34 felony counts of the alleged falsification of business records connected to his alleged role in the payment of hush money to two women at the end of his 2016 presidential campaign.
McCarthy, meanwhile, has continued to support Trump, despite his comments after the Jan. 6 protests at the Capitol when he said the former president should "accept his share of responsibility" for the incidents that happened that day.
In return, Trump did not support McCarthy's bid for speaker until after he failed to get the gavel after three floor votes.
Last week, the speaker told reporters he backs a call from Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to "expunge" Trump's two impeachments.
McCarthy said both impeachments had no due process and that he voted against both of them, as well as a recent call to impeach Biden.
"What was raised this week was someone wanting to take impeachment of Biden to the floor, and I didn't think that was right because there's no due process, right?" he said. "So shouldn't you be consistent, especially with the Constitution?"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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