Rep. David Brat (R-VA) on Monday said that President Donald Trump was “ill-advised” to assign blame for Republicans’ failed bill to repeal and replace Obamacare to the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
“There’s a narrative coming out, right? Everyone goes after the conservative members, always,” Brat said on CNN. “There were more moderate members who were going to walk away from that bill at the end. That’s why the vote was pulled, right?”
He praised Trump for doing “an outstanding job negotiating” and said that health care policy changes are “still going to happen.”
“The drama needs to ramp down,” Brat said.
He brushed off Trump’s tweet on Sunday assigning blame for the bill’s failure to the House Freedom Caucus, Club for Growth and Heritage Action.
“I think he’s being ill-advised about even the critique of the House Freedom Caucus,” Brat said. “There’s a narrative out there always against the most conservative members in the conservative caucus.”
“But who gave him the bad advice?” Poppy Harlow asked.
Brat replied that it was coming from “across the board.”
“He’s been getting bad counsel from the media, from some in leadership who said that some of us should not even exist up here,” he said. “We need to be on a team.”
