Former President Donald Trump this week demanded that Republicans in the House of Representatives shut down the government until special counsel Jack Smith's office is completely defunded.
Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman on Thursday morning caught up with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who has been scrambling to avert a government shutdown, and asked him about Trump's demand to end Smith's investigations.
McCarthy replied that the president simply wanted the GOP caucus to "hold the line" and pass through appropriations bills.
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Sherman, however, informed McCarthy "that's not what Trump said" and emphasized that the former president has really been demanding that McCarthy shut down the investigation until Smith has been defunded.
McCarthy noted that, even if the government shuts down, Smith's prosecutions of Trump on dozens of felony charges will nonetheless continue.
McCarthy currently has just ten days to avert a government shutdown and so far he can't even get his party to pass bills to fund the United States military.
McCarthy could in theory try to pass a bipartisan deal to keep the government open, but that would almost certainly lead to GOP hardliners voting to oust him from the speakership.
