Rep. Tim Burchett, 1 of the 8 Republicans who voted earlier this week in favor of ousting Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House speaker, said on Newsmax Thursday that former President Donald Trump could be a "unifying factor" in the conference as it discusses who will take the gavel next.
"He's the front-runner and he will remain that, I assume, but I think what he'll do is come in there and unify us and tell us we need to get behind somebody else," the Tennessee Republican said on Newsmax's "Newsline."
Trump, in a Truth Social post Thursday, offered his "short-term" help to "do whatever is necessary to help with the Speaker of the House selection process," commenting one day after he declined to rule himself out to fill in the position.
Burchett said he believes Trump will tell House Republicans they need to come to a decision among themselves for McCarthy's successor.
The congressman said he's spoken with Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Steve Scalise, R-La., who are the main candidates in the speaker's race, and he hasn't decided which way he'll go.
"I'm just going to listen to what they have to say," said Burchett. "I believe we're going to be united, though, and whoever we pick, it's going to be one vote on the floor."
Meanwhile, funding for Ukraine has been an issue when it comes to approval of a spending bill, Burchett agreed that the issue will be one as a new speaker takes over.
The continuing resolution approved Saturday to avoid a government shutdown did not include Ukraine funding, and Burchett said he believes the United States needs to "get our priorities straight" when it comes to providing funding for Ukraine in its battle against Russia.
"The war pimps and the rest of people, the industrial war complex, are pushing us more toward a world war," he said. "That's how they make their money. We've got over $114 billion in military and assets over in that country, and we can't even give the people of Maui [money]. We give them $700 a family."
The money is needed in the United States, he added, to "build the wall and protect our own dadgum border and quit worrying about Europe's next war, because that is not our war. American boys and girls do not need to be dying in some foreign war that's not defending the American Constitution."
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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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