CNN’s Tapper to Nancy Mace: ‘Name one Democrat who trusts Jim Jordan’

CNN’s Jake Tapper pushed back on claims from Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) that there are some Democrats who trust Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as a possible new Speaker of the House this week.

Tapper asked Mace on Wednesday about possible alternative Speaker candidates after the GOP named Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) its pick for the role. Scalise faces an uphill battle encouraging enough Republican holdouts to get 217 votes. Mace maintained that Jordan, whom Scalise narrowly beat for the GOP nomination, is not yet out of the race.

“I think Jim Jordan is not out of the mix. I’ve talked to a lot of people who still support him,” she said. “I’ve actually talked to a lot of Democrats who trust him at his word; I don’t think that’s out of the realm of possibility.”

Tapper didn’t believe her, but she doubled down.

“Democrats in Congress? Name one Democrat from Congress that trusts Jim Jordan?” Tapper asked.

“I’m not going to name people off the record,” she replied. “They trust him more than they trust the former Speaker, in my private conversations with Democrats, I will say that.”

Jordan is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which is leading investigations into President Biden and his family, a pursuit Democrats have widely denounced. He is also a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus.

Mace is one of eight Republicans and the only female in the GOP who voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). She backed Jordan earlier this month and continued to do so in the closed-door caucus vote earlier Wednesday.

She said later Wednesday that she will continue to back Jordan in House floor votes this week, saying she cannot vote for Scalise.

“I’ve been very vocal about this over the last couple of days: I personally cannot, in good conscience, vote for someone who attended a white supremacist conference and compared himself to David Duke,” she continued. “I would be doing an enormous disservice to the voters that I represent in South Carolina if I were to do that.”

Mace was referring to reports that Scalise had compared himself to the Ku Klux Klan grand wizard at an event years ago, reportedly calling himself “David Duke without the baggage.”

More than a half dozen members have committed to voting for a candidate other than Scalise when a Speaker vote reaches the floor.