Former Interior Secretary Zinke on Trump: His GOP influence is ‘absolutely’ waning

Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who is a representative-elect to Congress, said former President Trump’s influence on the Republican Party is “absolutely” waning after his endorsement of House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) did not yield any additional votes for him. 

Rep.-elect Zinke (R-Mont.) said in an interview on “CNN Tonight” on Thursday that the GOP holdouts who have not supported McCarthy for the Speakership have ignored Trump and in certain cases “called him out.” He said this is “absolutely inappropriate.”

Zinke also said he did not support Trump being nominated for Speaker, as he was by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on the 11th ballot of the Speakership vote on Thursday. 

Trump only received one vote for the role, from Gaetz. The Speaker does not need to be a current member of the House, but Trump has not expressed interest in the role. 

“It’s a castaway vote,” Zinke said. “It’s not a serious vote, so let’s get serious because the job is serious. Being a congressman is a responsibility — it’s an honor, but it’s a responsibility, and you should take that responsibility seriously.” 

Zinke, who served in Trump’s Cabinet for about two years, said the Speaker is the head of the House, but the members and committee chairs are the people that pass bills. 

McCarthy has received majority support from the House Republican Conference in his bid to become the next Speaker, but he has been unable to win the support of 20 House Republicans who have voted for other candidates. 

The House has not elected its Speaker through three days and 11 ballots, making it the longest Speaker contest since before the Civil War. 

Trump has backed McCarthy for the role and called on Republicans to unite behind McCarthy in a Truth Social post after the House failed to choose a Speaker on the first day of its session on Tuesday. But Trump’s support for McCarthy has not yet persuaded any of the 20 Republicans, who have been some of the most vocal supporters of the former president, to vote for McCarthy. 

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), one of the holdouts, told Fox News that Trump is wrong to support McCarthy and added that “HR wasn’t always his strong suit.” A couple of others have said McCarthy could not do anything to win them over. 

McCarthy has offered numerous concessions to his opponents to secure their support and appeared to be moving toward a deal on Thursday to net him at least some of their votes to inch him closer to winning the election. 

The House is set to resume its session at noon on Friday, the fourth day of voting.