House GOP speaker hopefuls equivocate on Trump’s 2020 loss

House GOP speaker hopefuls equivocate on Trump’s 2020 loss

During the House GOP’s private Tuesday night forum with its two candidates for speaker, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) asked a simple question of both Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio): Did Donald Trump win the 2020 election?

After Buck’s question, which was confirmed by multiple people with knowledge of the meeting, some Republicans interpreted Scalise and Jordan’s answers as equivocating on the validity of Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden. One Republican who was granted anonymity to discuss the exchange said that both speaker hopefuls “tried to have it both ways.”

Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) then tried to follow up on the question but also didn’t get a direct answer from either Scalise or Jordan, both of whom voted against fully certifying Biden’s 2020 victory.

It’s a moment that reflects Trump’s lingering influence on the GOP, as well as the difficulties that either Scalise or Jordan may have in winning over centrist Republicans such as the 18 who currently hold seats where Biden prevailed in 2020.

Aides to the former president — including his attorney general, Bill Barr — have affirmed that Biden was the fair winner in 2020, countering Trump’s false claims that voter fraud cost him the election. The subsequent investigation by the Jan. 6 select committee uncovered further records of Trump advisers who had warned him against amplifying claims that his election loss was somehow fraudulent.

Buck, who initially posed the question, is one of only two members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who voted to fully certify Biden’s victory. More than 130 House Republicans supported at least one objection to certification after the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021.