- DeSantis spoke out against former Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday.
- He said he had initially opposed McCarthy in Congress "when it wasn't cool."
Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis went after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday in an interview, linking his downfall to former President Donald Trump.
Speaking to $4 on Tuesday shortly before a majority of members in the House of Representatives voted to remove McCarthy as speaker, DeSantis said that McCarthy is "really someone that Donald Trump has backed and put in that position" and that he believes the former speaker didn't deliver appropriate results in the nearly nine months he had in the position.
"I opposed McCarthy when it wasn't cool, years ago," DeSantis added.
DeSantis was a member of Congress between 2013 and 2018, where he represented Florida's 6th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. During that time, he was also a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, a group that's clashed with McCarthy for years and $4 to extract steep concessions from in the event its members were to support him in a bid for the speakership.
Additionally, in September, $4 reported that DeSantis attacked McCarthy while on the campaign trail after the former speaker denigrated DeSantis as "not on the same level" as Trump, his key foe in the presidential race. Following those comments, DeSantis wondered aloud at an event if McCarthy would have even found success in the speakership race to begin with without Trump's assistance.
In January, as the House deliberated for days to try and scrounge together enough votes to elect someone as speaker, $4 reported that Trump had decided to take matters into his own hands to tip the scale in favor of McCarthy by personally calling up lawmakers to plead his case.
Additionally, he also took to Truth Social in January to try and boost McCarthy's credibility amongst his supporters.
"Some really good conversations took place last night, and it's now time for all of our GREAT Republican House members to VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY," Trump posted. "REPUBLICANS, DO NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT."
Nine months later, the speaker's office is no longer home to McCarthy any longer. To temporarily fill his place, Interim Speaker $4 has taken over speakership duties until a full-fledged speaker is elected.