Republican leader Elise Stefanik secretly told GOP members Trump was a 'disaster' prone to 'dumb' decisions

Former President Donald Trump gave his blessing to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) after Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) was removed from the House Republican leadership. But, behind closed doors, Stefanik was trashing Trump.

In Jan. 2022, Trump welcomed Stefanik to Mar-a-Lago and showered her with praise, even going so far as to say that in six years, she could become the first female president of the United States.

“I want to congratulate Elise on her success. Man, is she moving fast. That means, at this rate, she’ll be president in about 6 years,” Trump reportedly said, according to The Daily Gazette.

"I haven’t thought about the ’24 race, forget the ’28 race. I was really more focused on the ’22 races. Call me crazy," he said then. "Certainly, [the Mar-a-Lago fundraiser] is going to help her balance sheet, and it’s going to help her with her base."

But according to a New York Times report, Stefanik was trashing Trump privately to colleagues.

"In private conversations, Ms. Stefanik sometimes conceded to former colleagues and confidants that Mr. Trump was a disaster for the party, though she said she did not see an upside to publicly criticizing him," the report revealed. "She vented to confidants that the administration made 'dumb' decisions that left Republicans in Congress shouldering the blame — frustrated, for example, at Mr. Trump’s on-again, off-again backing of sweeping immigration legislation to grant legal status to unauthorized immigrants brought to the United States as children, often known as Dreamers."

Her adviser told the Times she never said anything of the sort.

Whether they like Trump or not, Republicans can always copy his frequently used phrase "fake news," and tell the ex-president the media is lying. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) blamed the media when there were questions about his participation in the Jan. 6 rally. He went on to say that the date was supposed to be a great day of debate on the House floor, but that MAGA-loving crowd eliminated that. A year later, Brooks is claiming that Trump told him to overthrow the government and remove President Joe Biden from office eight months after the inauguration.

"He’s an incredibly important voice in terms of growing the party among the working class," claimed Stefanik. Then again, she also claimed in 2016 that Trump would never become president.

See the full report from the New York Times.