Trump thought he could get far-right Freedom Caucus lawmakers to back Nancy Pelosi: report

President Donald Trump was so confident in his control over far-right Republican legislators that he believed he could get Freedom Caucus members to back Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The anecdote appears in the new book The Hill To Die On, by Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer of "Politico Playbook." It was reviewed by Ashley Parker of The Washington Post.

"And there is Trump’s confession, in an Oval Office interview with Sherman and Palmer, that he is not particularly troubled that Republicans lost control of the House in the 2018 midterms — the sort of electoral defeat that would devastate most other presidents, and the sort of admission that might disappoint Trump’s fellow Republicans," Parker explained.

Trump also had a plan to help Pelosi become Speaker even if she couldn't garner enough support from within the Democratic Caucus.

“He would ask the Freedom Caucus, the most conservative members of Congress and his staunchest allies, to do the unthinkable and vote for Pelosi," the book reports.

In an Oval Office interview, Trump told the book's authors “the most conservative members of Congress would do him a favor by voting for Pelosi.”

Read the full report.