Betrayed in the House: Gohmert Says Gingrich & DeMint Swayed Freedom Caucus on Ryan [Video]

24 Oct, 2015 by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

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I am shocked by this. According to Louie Gohmert, Newt Gingrich and Jim DeMint both pressured the House Freedom Caucus to back Paul Ryan. It was done behind the scenes. I have always considered the Freedom Caucus to be Tea Party. And I have always had immense respect for Jim DeMint. So, you can imagine my dismay when I heard that he was pushing for a Progressive like Paul Ryan to be Speaker of the House. Ryan said he had some non-negotiable demands for becoming Speaker. He insisted, for example, that he would need endorsements from each of the major GOP caucuses, including the House Freedom Caucus. Ryan also said he wanted members to agree to scrap the “vacate the chair” rule that allows members to try to oust their own sitting Speaker. That rule was put in place by Thomas Jefferson. Ryan has agreed to table that demand for now and has said the 70% approval of the Freedom Caucus was sufficient. You know what this tells me? He planned on taking the position all along.

From One America News Network:

Congressman Paul Ryan has received enough support from the House Freedom Caucus to secure his nomination for Speaker of the House, and he may have gained some of the support from conservative efforts going on behind-the-scenes.

The House Freedom Caucus, a small but fierce group of conservatives, succeeded in their efforts to oust John Boehner from Speaker of the House, but scrambled to find a nominee for Speaker that would satisfy their list of demands and rule changes to the Republican Conference.

The group initially endorsed Florida Representative Daniel Webster; however, a closed-door meeting pushed them into supporting Congressman Paul Ryan, a person that they saw as only an extension of Boehner.

Texas Congressman Louis Gohmert told One America News that some very familiar names pressured members of the House Freedom Caucus to rethink who they would endorse for Speaker.

“Promises were made and as I understand it, our friend Senator Jim DeMint, now head of the Heritage Foundation was making calls persuading…really shocked me. I don’t guess I was so surprised that Newt Gingrich was making calls behind the scenes to Freedom Caucus members to tell them, ‘you gotta cave and go with Paul,’” Gohmert said.

Gohmert told One America News that he was most shocked that these conservative officials were backing Ryan, given his track record with some conservatives.

“I was really surprised that the head of the Heritage Foundation, Jim DeMint was making calls telling conservatives to back off their conservatism and back the guy for Speaker that doesn’t just have a D, he has an F under the Conservative Review analysis,” Gohmert said.

While the vote fell short of the majority required for the House Freedom Caucus to deliver an official endorsement, it did provide the party unity that Ryan initially set as a condition for accepting the nomination.

The Republican Conference will meet behind closed doors to continue their deliberation for the Speaker election, which set for Wednesday, Oct. 28th.

The fix is in on this too. It was a setup from the beginning. I believe this was a political maneuver to get Ryan into position. Ryan received enough support from the House Freedom Caucus to secure his nomination for Speaker of the House as of Oct. 23, 2015. I don’t know about you, but I feel betrayed. There were only a handful of conservatives that I trusted and I just lost a big one. Ryan will give the Dems everything they want and more. He will screw conservatives and then they’ll turn around and say they couldn’t have seen this coming. The Republican Party is a monstrous joke. If this next election doesn’t turn it around, they will become the Whigs and they will be finished. But at least Paul Ryan will be leading the way.