Marjorie Taylor Greene tried to get McCarthy holdout to talk to Trump on the phone

By Jen Krausz on
 January 8, 2023

Images have emerged of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) trying to get Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) to talk on the phone with former President Donald Trump after Rosendale refused to vote for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for House speaker on a 14th ballot Friday night.

On that ballot, McCarthy only lost by half a vote, which means Rosendale's vote would have given him the speakership. D.C.-based photojournalist Al Drago tweeted a picture of Greene holding out her phone to Rosendale, and Trump can be seen as the contact number on the call.

Rosendale reportedly shouted, "Don't you ever do me like that!" when Greene told him to talk to Trump.

The altercation came at the same time that Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) was confronting Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) about his vote of "present," which led Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) to grab Rogers and pull him backward away from Gaetz by his face.

The tense moments finally calmed, and McCarthy was elected speaker on the final, 15th vote a few minutes later.

While McCarthy failed to get the 218 votes he would have needed if all members voted for a candidate, he won 216-212 after six holdouts voted present on the final ballot.