Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas said President Trump’s attempt to blame the House Freedom Caucus for the failure of the House GOP’s health care bill shows that “nobody is perfect.”
Since the bill sputtered out in spectacular fashion last week, Mr. Trump has targeted members of the House Freedom Caucus on Twitter, saying Democrats are thankful that the conservative group helped derail the Republican push to repeal and replace Obamacare.
“Well, I am not one who has said the president needs to stop tweeting,” Mr. Gohmert, a member of the Freedom Caucus, said on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal.” “I think it is great. It helps him go straight to the people, but you know with that tweet he helped prove the rule that nobody is perfect.”
Over the weekend, Mr. Trump tweeted, “Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!” He also wrote, “The Republican Freedom Caucus was able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”
Mr. Gohmert said his understanding was that Mr. Trump had been left in the dark about how many Republicans opposed the bill, and the president was “shocked” to discover how many lawmakers did not like the bill.
The congressman also said it would have been a “disaster” for the GOP to vote on the legislation and said he hopes lawmakers can now author a stronger bill that does more to lower insurance premiums.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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