Eyes on 2024: Trump wields his power in speaker fight

On Tuesday morning we wrote that the battle over the next House speaker showed that Trump is still the leader of the GOP. And just a few hours later, Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer’s demise proved just how much sway Trump continues to hold over Republicans in Congress. 

Emmer’s bid to be the next speaker lasted just a few hours, per NBC News’ Scott Wong, Rebecca Kaplan, Kyle Stewart and Ali Vitali. After multiple rounds of voting, Republicans picked Emmer as their next nominee. 

But then Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, slamming Emmer as a “Republican in Name Only,” writing that Emmer “never respected the power of a Trump Endorsement, or the breadth and scope of MAGA”

A source familiar with Emmer’s whip effort told Vitali and Kaplan that Trump’s post made Emmer’s speaker bid impossible. They wrote, “Emmer knew if he held another vote he would lose even more people, which was part of why he decided to drop out instead of letting this drag out, the source said.”

Trump took credit for Emmer’s demise, telling reporters outside of his civil fraud trial in New York, “I absolutely must have had an impact,” per NBC News’ Katherine Koretski and Dasha Burns. 

Late Tuesday night, Republicans nominated Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson as their next pick for speaker, and there could be a floor vote as soon as Wednesday afternoon, Wong and NBC News’ Sahil Kapur report. 

In other campaign news …

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Stone cold: President Joe Biden’s campaign informed New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckly that Biden will not appear on the state’s primary ballot as the state did not comply with the Democratic National Committee’s push to move the primary later in the calendar, NBC News’ Monica Alba and Emma Barnett report. 

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSIt’s rarely been harder for people to find new jobs

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

Trump trials: In Trump’s New York fraud trial, his former attorney Michael Cohen testified on Tuesday that Trump inflated his assets based on his feelings, launched a failed bid to buy an NFL team and “arbitrarily” set his net worth numbers.

Gaining ground: No Labels has gained ballot access in 12 states after the third-party organization gained access to the ballot in Mississippi on Tuesday, NBC News’ Katherine Koretski reports.

DeSantis vs Haley — again: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley are clashing once again, this time over welcoming Chinese companies to their states as governors, per Fox News. 

Those who wonder ‘what if’: NBC News’ Chuck Todd examines how three people — former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Sen. Mitt Romney — may think about the rise of Trump and their roles in the modern political era.