Republicans in Congress were seething Wednesday after a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence suggested to a gathering of GOP donors that the party's congressional majorities should be jettisoned in 2018 if that's what it takes to weed out members disloyal to President Trump.
Republican leaders quickly communicated their displeasure to the White House, warning that Pence's chief of staff, Nick Ayers, was jeopardizing delicate tax reform negotiations by urging top GOP contributors to cut off incumbents and fund primary challengers in the mid-term if the effort isn't completed by year's end.
"I enjoy it when Republicans fight against Democrats more than when Republicans fight against other Republicans. I also think it's more constructive," Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said.
Ayers, an experienced Republican operative who must have known his comments were going to leak, said to donors attending a private Republican National Committee fundraiser in Washington that the party could sustain heavy losses in 2018 if Congress isn't more productive. But he said it might be worth it.
"Because look, if we're going to be in the minority again, we might as well have a minority who are with us as opposed to a minority who helped us become a minority," Ayers said, in remarks first reported by Politico but confirmed to the Washington Examiner by a GOP donor who was present.
Get the Exclusive
01.20.2025