'I'm, uh –– yeah': GOP's Emmer ignores Trump's attacks on him during ABC interview
Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) graciously declared that he and President-elect Donald Trump were on "very good terms" after ABC's Jonathan Karl confronted him with a nasty quote about being a Republican In Name Only, or RINO.
"So, let me ask you, your relationship with Trump," Karl began on Sunday's This Week with George Stephanopoulos. "I remember when Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker, you were nominated to replace him, and Donald Trump — you probably remember this, but let me remind you just in case — posted on Truth Social, 'I have many wonderful friends wanting to be Speaker of the House and some are truly great warriors. RINO Tom Emmer, who I do not know well, is not one of them...He is totally out-of-touch with Republican voters...' Now, to be fair, that was more than a year ago. I assume you've gotten to know Trump a little bit better?"
Emmer responded, "The president and I are on very good terms. I'm, uh — yeah. The president has been wonderful to me, been wonderful to my wife, has done everything that he could to campaign in Minnesota. He's been amazing, and yeah, we're going to do some good work together. But it's Donald J. Trump's agenda. My job is to make sure that we execute."
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"And what are those interactions like?" Karl pressed, causing Emmer to laugh out loud.
"He's a very blunt and honest human being," Emmer answered.
Emmer was one of a handful of representatives vying to become Speaker of the House after former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) staged a rebellion against Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Emmer became the party's third pick for the leadership role, behind Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Jim Jordan (R-OH), following a series of secret internal ballots in Oct. 2023.
Trump joined 20 other lawmakers in denouncing Emmer at the time, forcing the Minnesota Republican to drop out of contention.
Emmer's demise was due to his failure to agree with MAGA issues like declaring the 2020 presidential election was rigged, which it was not.
Republicans also nominated Byron Donalds (R-FL), Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), Mark Green (R-TN), Kevin Hern (R-OK), Mike Johnson (R-LA), and Roger Williams (TX). The speakership finally went to Johnson, who recently retained his seat after receiving Trump's support during a confidence vote this month.
Watch the video below via ABC News or at the link..