Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., told Newsmax that Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's chance at being speaker is "still very uncertain" after talking with the House Freedom Caucus.
Joining "The Record with Greta Van Susteren," Perry insisted that, as it currently stands, "there are not 218 votes" for the California Republican to be voted speaker despite a "productive meeting" on Monday.
"Productive can be defined in a lot of different ways. But from my standpoint, part of it is knowing where the other side of the negotiation is," the Pennsylvania congressman stated. "So, we learned some of that in that very short meeting. But, you know, that provides you information to then make decisions on."
Perry was then asked what McCarthy could do in the next 24 hours to gain the five "hard no" votes' support against his bid – Reps. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Bob Good of Virginia, Matt Rosendale of Montana, Matt Gaetz of Florida, and Andy Biggs of Arizona.
"What it really boils down to is trust over a long period of time," Perry said, citing instances of McCarthy siding with Democrats at critical points in the past.
"Since trust can't be built over a period of 60 days or something like that, other things would have to be done to make up for that," he continued. "For instance, we would need a majority of seats on the Rules Committee or the Appropriations Committee or both of them."
Further, Perry pointed to "the ability to hold the speaker accountable" as an important factor in determining whether the group would back McCarthy for the role. He added: "We would need something fairly dramatic."
"I started talking to Leader McCarthy over the summer about some of these changes, anticipating this moment and trying to avert this moment. But last summer he wasn't interested in talking to me. ... Only become mildly interested right after the November election," Perry explained.
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