Former Texas GOP rep: Trump should hold very little or no role in Republican Party

Former Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) said Sunday that the GOP should have little if anything to do with former President Trump following the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Speaking with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Hurd argued that the Republican Party had lost both houses of Congress and the White House over the past four years as a direct result of the former president.

“I think very little, if not none at all,” Hurd said when asked about what role Trump should play in the GOP’s future. “This is a president that lost the House, the Senate, the White House in four years. I think the last person to do that was Herbert Hoover, and that was during the Great Depression.”

“We should be talking to disaffected Democrats” who do not support ideas such as reducing funding to law enforcement or expanding immigration, Hurd added, pointing to the failure of House Democrats to pick up any seats from Republicans during the November election.

WATCH: @ChuckTodd asks Former Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas): “What role should former President Trump have in the future of the Republican Party?” #MTP@HurdontheHill: “I think very little, if none at all.” pic.twitter.com/EGAIT9N4up

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) February 21, 2021

The former congressman went on to say that it was likely his party would win control of the House next year given the traditional performance of the party in control of the White House during midterm elections but argued that such a prospect would be impossible if the GOP was still focused on arguments over whether Trump won the 2020 election.

“We have an opportunity, but we can’t do that if we’re talking about the lies of an election that went wrong or succumbing to conspiracy theories,” he added.

Hurd departed Congress in January after announcing his retirement in 2019; he was succeeded as congressman for Texas’s 23rd District by Rep. Tony Gonzales (R).

Formerly the only Black member of the House GOP caucus, Hurd made headlines last year when he joined demonstrators marching in protest against the death of an unarmed Black man, George Floyd, at the hands of Minneapolis police.