House Republicans voted Wednesday 113-99 to nominate GOP Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana for the speakership over Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan.
But will he get the 217 votes needed to secure the gavel? That's hardly certain as he can only lose four Republican votes.
The House met briefly Thursday but recessed soon after because the Louisiana Republican still hadn't gotten enough support to be elected by the full chamber.
A handful of members are still pro-Jordan, some remain undecided, and others have a problem with Scalise's plan for appropriations, among other issues.
But former President Trump, who endorsed Jordan for House speaker, revealed on Thursday what his main concern with Scalise is.
The Republican is currently undergoing treatment for blood cancer, which the 45th president told Fox News's Brian Kilmeade is very "serious."
Brian Kilmeade: So the speaker, the speakers had their vote behind closed doors, look like Steve Scalise is going to get it if he gets the majority of the votes when they bring it to the floor, he’ll get it over. Jim Jordan, your reaction because I know you came out in support of Jim Jordan.
Donald Trump: Well, I like Steve. I like both of them very much. But the problem, you know, Steve is a man that is in serious trouble from the standpoint of his cancer. I mean, he’s got to get better for himself. I’m not talking about even country now. I’m saying 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. Well, Steve is going through very, very serious cancer therapy. And of course, then he had that horrible attack years ago that, you know, it was amazing that he he came back. I went to the hospital. I was with him the night it happened. I was literally with him holding his hand. And I was there the night that it happened that the doctors gave him probably a 10% chance that he made it. But there’s tremendous aftereffect there. But he’s got a very serious form of cancer. 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. (Fox News Radio)
Trump went on to express concern that Scalise's treatment would drain his strength at a time when "tremendous strength" is needed "both inside and out, because we have radical left, lunatics...that are so bad for our country. And they've got to fight them off and they've got to fight the outside world."
When Kilmeade pressed Trump about whether that was the only reason he endorsed Jordan, he said he likes both men and knew that getting the required votes would be a challenge for either of them.
"And then you end up in one of these crazy stalemates," he added. "It's a ... very interesting situation."
