The chairman of the House Freedom Caucus argued Thursday that President Trump is “not being well served” by attacking members of the group after they broke with the GOP over healthcare reform last week.
Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said in an hour-long interview with the Washington Examiner Thursday afternoon that he was “surprised” by Trump’s tweet from Thursday morning, in which he vowed to “fight” Freedom Caucus members in the 2018 midterm elections. But both Meadows and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the group’s former leader, said they still hope to work with Trump and revive the chances to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system.
“I was surprised by the tweet,” Meadows said. “The president is a leader. He is a negotiator. He is someone who believes that, at this point, the Freedom Caucus is holding up his agenda. He’s not being well served in that.”
“The narrative is not surprising in the White House because I think some of his advisers are suggesting that it was consensus that we pulled the rug out from underneath the president’s agenda and nothing could be further from the truth,” Meadows said. “But that being said, I don’t take it personally.”
Jordan also downplayed the fight by saying there’s still time to make changes to the bill that he said would help “fix” the legislation so it does what Republicans promised to do: change the bill in a way that lowers premiums for people.
“All we’re trying to do is fix the legislation,” Jordan said. “The whole world thinks, ‘oh, because a bill got postponed, this town is going crazy, the sky is going to fall.’ It’s not. Let’s just fix it and quit worrying about tweets and statements and blame and let’s focus on the actual document.”
“This is the chance for us to figure out how we’re going to work together to accomplish what we told the American people,” Jordan added. “Everybody calm down.”
Other members of the group were less forgiving. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., tweeted that Trump that he is now part of the “swamp” he vowed to clean out during the campaign. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, openly speculated that White House chief of staff Reince Priebus authored Trump’s tweet.
But even as Meadows and Jordan called for more discussion about the healthcare bill, a key Trump ally said he was done talking to the HFC.
Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., a staunch ally of Trump, told reporters Thursday that the Tuesday Group, comprised of moderate members, made the decision Wednesday night and will “hang up” on any incoming calls from the Freedom Caucus. Meadows pushed back on their critiques, especially those that the Freedom Caucus negotiated in bad faith or moved the goalposts during healthcare negotiations.
“It’s frustrating because the narrative is out there that on all of these different things, we’ve moved the goal posts. I know you all have heard that Well, we have. We moved it much closer so … all they have to do is kick a little chip shot through the goal posts to get this across the finish line,” Meadows said.
The possibility of leaving Obamacare in place has also led Freedom Caucus members to question their actions. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, left the caucus over the weekend, and Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., openly wondered if caucus members overplayed their hand during the AHCA debate. Meadows and Jordan shot down that idea.
“I don’t know how keeping your promise to the American people, doing what you told them you’re going to do, doing what they sent you to do — how is that overplaying your hand?” Jordan said. “I don’t accept the premise … my guess is the American people won’t accept it either.”
