'Serious Problem': Donald Trump Rejects Steve Scalise’s House Speaker Nomination Over Cancer Concerns — 'He’s Got to Get Better'
Donald Trump rejected Steve Scalise’s nomination as House Speaker this week.
Donald Trump rejected Steve Scalise’s nomination as House Speaker over “serious” concerns regarding the GOP congressman’s recent cancer diagnosis, RadarOnline.com can report.
In the latest development to come after Kevin McCarthy was ousted as House Speaker on October 3, House Republicans nominated Scalise to be McCarthy’s successor on Wednesday.
Trump suggested Scalise is not fit to be the next House Speaker because of the GOP congressman's recent cancer diagnosis.
Scalise’s nomination on Wednesday came roughly two months after the 57-year-old Louisiana congressman was diagnosed with multiple myeloma – a form of blood cancer – in August.
But according to Trump, Scalise is not fit to be the next House Speaker because the GOP House Rep. is “in serious trouble from the standpoint of his cancer.”
“He’s got to get better for himself,” Trump told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade during a radio interview on Thursday. “I’m not talking about even the country now. I’m saying he’s got to get better. And this is tremendous stress.”
“All of the things that you hear about and, you know, things that you don’t want to get involved in from the standpoint of getting,” the former president continued. “Well, Steve is going through very, very serious cancer therapy.”
The 57-year-old Louisiana congressman was diagnosed with multiple myeloma – a form of blood cancer – in August.
“He’s got a very serious form of cancer,” Trump added. “And, you know, most importantly, I want Steve to get well, I just don’t know how you can do the job when you have — that’s a serious problem.”
The embattled ex-president also suggested that Scalise is not “strong enough” to “fight off” the “radical left lunatics” like Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff due to the Louisiana congressman’s blood cancer battle.
“We need tremendous strength both inside and out, because we have radical left lunatics like Nancy Pelosi and Schiff and all these crazy people that are so bad for our country,” Trump remarked. “And they’ve got to fight them off and they’ve got to fight the outside world.”
Meanwhile, the former president and likely 2024 GOP presidential nominee continued to push House Rep. Jim Jordan as the next House Speaker even though Jordan lost the nomination vote to Scalise 99-113.
Scalise beat Jim Jordan for the House Speaker nomination 113-99 on Wednesday.
“I like Jim. I think Jim’s great,” Trump told Kilmeade on Thursday. “I think Jim is a great, tremendous fighter, a tough guy. Really like him a lot.”
“I’m going to be with anybody they pick,” the former president continued regarding the next House Speaker. “I will certainly be with anybody that, you know, I get along with. Frankly, I get along with all of them.”
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“But, I mean, the one thing with Steve, he’s got to get well, he’s got to get well, he’s got to get strong.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, House Republicans are scrambling to find a new House Speaker after McCarthy was ousted from the role earlier this month.
Trump insisted he would stand behind whoever the Republican Party chooses as the next House Speaker.
Although Scalise won Wednesday’s House Republican Conference vote with 113 votes, the GOP House members still must take another vote on the House floor.
It is currently unclear if Scalise could garner enough votes from both House Republicans and Democrats to secure the role as McCarthy’s House Speaker successor.
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