A key House conservative on Tuesday offered a full-throated defense of Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), who has become a target of President Trump’s ire in recent weeks, saying he wishes Sanford had won his primary race.
“Mark Sanford is a friend, Mark Sanford is a good member of Congress, Mark Sanford is a member of the Freedom Caucus,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a founding member of the conservative caucus, told Hill.TV’s “Rising” in an interview.
“Wish he would have won, wish he was still going to be in Congress,” Jordan added.
Sanford was defeated in South Carolina’s Republican primary earlier this month by conservative state Rep. Katie Arrington, who won a last-minute endorsement from Trump.
Trump took aim at the South Carolina Republican during a campaign rally late Monday for Gov. Henry McMaster (R) in Sanford’s home state.
“The Tallahassee Trail, must be a beautiful place,” Trump said, misidentifying the Appalachian Trail and referencing a now-infamous episode in which Sanford claimed to be hiking the trail but was really in Argentina visiting his mistress. “Unfortunately for him, he didn’t go there.”
Members of the House Freedom Caucus on Monday urged the president to stifle his criticism of Sanford. In a closed-door meeting, a number of members called for lawmakers to defend the South Carolina Republican.
“Everybody in there is very supportive of Mark Sanford, and I think that’s one of the things that overwhelmingly they believe that the president is getting bad political advice,” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the caucus’s chairman, said.
Sanford has been fiercely critical of Trump, saying on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last week that the president has reshaped the Republican Party and that conservatives needed to reflect on the future of the GOP.
“I think we’ve got to do a whole lot of soul-searching in this party,” he said.
— Max Greenwood
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