Trump to Newsmax TV: Liz Cheney a 'Hopeless Case,' Georgia's Kemp 'Sad'

It will be "great" if GOP leaders like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rep. Liz Cheney will "do their job" in standing up to the Biden administration's agenda, former President Donald Trump said in an interview with Newsmax TV, but he dismissed Cheney, who has been outspoken against his role in the party, as a "hopeless case."

Trump also told Newsmax TV's Mark Halperin in an interview backstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference event in Orlando that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's actions after the 2020 election were "sad." 

"They have to do their job," Trump told Halperin about Cheney and McConnell. "If they do their job, great. I think Liz Cheney is a hopeless case, and Mitch, we'll see whether or not he can do his job."

Halperin noted that Trump has endorsed McConnell in the past, and asked if that endorsement, as well as his backing of Kemp, who he fiercely criticized over the results of the November election, are creating questions for him. 

"I endorsed them as Republicans," he said. "In the case of Gov. Kemp, he was in last place or just about in last place. I endorsed him. He ended up winning the election and he certainly was not very effective for the Republican party, to put it nicely. So I think that was an endorsement that hurt us but sometimes that will happen. You can't pick 100% of the winners."

Kemp's performance, Trump added, was "sad" because of "what he did for the Republican Party and to the Republican Party and to the state of Georgia, which is a great state."

During his CPAC speech, the former president railed against a laundry list of Republicans who he said are not fighting hard enough against Democrats, including senators like "Mitt Romney, 'little' Ben Sasse, Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Pat Toomey" and in the House, "Tom Rice, Adam Kinzinger. Dan Newhouse, Anthony Gonzalez ... and of course, the warmonger, a person who loves seeing our troops fighting, Liz Cheney."

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