Trump taking credit for McCarthy dropping out of House speaker's race

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Isaac Brekken/Getty Images)

You may think you know why Kevin McCarthy dropped his bid to become House speaker, but Donald Trump is here to tell you it's all because of him.

During a campaign event in Las Vegas on Thursday, Trump announced: "They're giving me a lot of credit for that because I said you really need someone very, very tough and very smart. You know, smart goes with tough. I know tough people that aren't smart. That's the worst. We need smart, we need tough, we need the whole package."

Last week during an appearance on Morning Joe, the Republican presidential candidate said he didn't know if McCarthy was "someone that's very tough and that can negotiate with the Democrats." The position, he added, needs to go to somebody "that's a very, very tough, smart, cunning person."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.