Former President Donald Trump is "stronger today than he was in 2016," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Breitbart on Tuesday.
"As usual, the media is attempting to drive a wedge between President Trump and House Republicans as our committees are holding Biden's DOJ accountable for their two-tiered levels of justice," McCarthy stated. "The only reason Biden is using his weaponized federal government to go after President Trump is because he is Biden's strongest political opponent, as polling continues to show."
During the interview, McCarthy referred to the Morning Consult poll published earlier in the day that showed Trump beating incumbent President Joe Biden for 20234.
"Just look at the numbers this morning — Trump is stronger today than he was in 2016," the House speaker noted.
The significance of McCarthy's comments lies in the fact that earlier on Tuesday, a journalist quoted a segment of his appearance on CNBC in which the speaker appeared to criticize Trump.
While McCarthy did not give a full-throated endorsement of Trump, he did not directly criticize the former president, either
Rephrasing a question from the CNBC interviewer, McCarthy said, "Can Trump beat Biden? Yeah, he can beat Biden."
"Can he win that election? Yeah, he can.
"The question is is he the strongest to win the election? I don't know that answer. But can somebody, can anybody, beat Biden? Yeah, anybody can beat Biden. Can Biden beat other people. Yes, Biden can beat other people. It's on any given day."
McCarthy has not yet expressed support for any 2024 presidential candidate.