Former home speaker John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner A leadership menagerie of metaphorical scapegoats Boehner says’ unemployed ‘Trump has nothing to do’ but ’cause trouble’ Boehner: ‘There are many leaders in the Republican Party’ MORE (R-Ohio) revealed in an interview with TIME that he voted for the former President Trump
Donald Trump Trump: McConnell ‘helpless’ to stop Biden from courting Romney in NRSC handing out Trump: not’ my preference ‘McConnell bypasses Trump calling him’ dumb son of ab ‘—-‘ MORE in the 2020 election, but said he did not wish he was more involved in pushing back Trump’s efforts to reverse the election, even after the January 6 uprising.
The interview, conducted the day before the release of BoehnerJohn Andrew Boehner A leadership menagerie of metaphorical scapegoats Boehner says’ unemployed ‘Trump has nothing to do’ but ’cause trouble’ Boehner: ‘There are many leaders in the Republican Party’ MOREIn the book “On the House: A Washington Memoir,” the Ohio Republican said he decided to support Trump in the election because his policies “generally” reflected the policies he believed in.
‘I voted for Donald Trump. I thought his policy was broadly in line with the policy I believed in, ”said Boehner.
Boehner said Trump’s Supreme Court choices were “top-notch,” adding that federal court nominees are “the most important thing a president does.”
“I thought the choices for the Supreme Court were top class. At the end of the day, who is nominated in federal courts is really the most important thing a president does, ”he continued.
Boehner, TIME noted, was not backing anyone in the 2020 presidential election. A spokesman for Boehner said in August, “I think he’d rather set himself on fire than get involved in the election,” NBC News reported.
Boehner said he did not wish he had been more involved in Trump’s efforts to reverse the election, including after the January 6 uprising, because he wanted to “stay out of the daily rumble of politics.”
“I really didn’t need to speak,” said Boehner.
“At a given moment [in 2018], someone asked me about the state of the Republican Party, and I said, “The Republican Party is taking a nap.” I wrote to my staff several days after January 6 and said, “I called it a nap, but now it has become … I might have said crisis.” He added.
Days after the uprising, Boehner tweeted condemned the attack and denounced the Republican Party, and he sent an emotional email to an informal group of friends, allies and former aides he calls “Boehnerland.”
I once said that Lincoln and Reagan’s company are taking a nap. The nap has become a nightmare for our country. The GOP needs to wake up. The mob invasion of our Capitol, instigated by the lies of some entrusted to power, is a disgrace to all who sacrificed themselves to build our Republic.
– John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) January 7, 2021
In an interview with USA Today, Boehner said Trump “went completely beyond their allegiance” when he issued voter fraud claims to his followers after the November election.
“What struck me, especially after the election, was, here are all these people who are loyal to Donald Trump, and he abused them,” said Boehner. “He has surpassed their loyalty to him by continuing to say things that just weren’t true.”
In the book, due out Tuesday, Boehner offers his commentary on a number of Washington power players. He called Sen. Ted Cruz
Rafael (Ted) Edward Cruz Boehner: ‘There are many leaders in the Republican Party’ Biden chooses vocal Trump critics to lead immigration offices Boehner: Trump ‘stepped beyond their allegiance’ by lying to followers MORE (R-Texas) a “reckless bastard” and former Rep. Michele Bachmann
Michele Marie Bachmann Boehner: Trump ‘got over their allegiance completely’ by lying to followers Boehner ends up calling it as he sees it MSNBC host: Boehner goes after GOP ‘crazy’, is now ‘too little too late’ MORE (R-Minn.) A “madman,” and said conservative pundits like Sean Hannity
Sean Patrick Hannity Boehner: Trump ‘stepped all over their allegiance’ by lying to followers Boehner ends up calling it the way he sees it Cruz on Boehner: ‘I proudly bear his drunken, bloated disdain’ MORE and Rush Limbaugh are residents of “Looneyville”.
Boehner also called the election fraud claim pushed by Trump a “nonsense” lie, saying he instigated the “bloody uprising” in January “for nothing but selfish reasons.”
The Ohio Republican was ousted from the saying in late 2015 amid an internal uprising by conservative House GOP members over a fight to avoid a government shutdown.