And he shares a harsh view of former President Donald Trump and writes that he was happy to leave office before Trump was inaugurated.
Here are five takeaways from Boehner’s book, which CNN obtained before its release next week:
“He claims that the voter fraud is without any evidence, and he repeated the allegations and took advantage of the trust his supporters placed in him and ultimately betrayed the trust,” Boehner wrote.
In another passage, Boehner writes Trump’s ‘refusal to accept the outcome of the election cost Republicans not only the Senate but also violence in the crowd.’
Sharp criticism of Tea Party figures
Boehner’s book is a journey of conversation through his rise as a congressman with bombings in the House, his growth in a leadership role with mentors such as former President Gerald Ford, his dealings with McConnell and Democratic leaders, and his frustrations with having a tea party. generation of conservatives, including Ted Cruz, a Texas senator, and two former members of the House and Trump chiefs of staff: Mick Mulvaney and Mark Meadows.
If I had not learned Jerry Ford’s wisdom about the house earlier in my career, I would have spent a few terms as a bomber Meadows / Mulvaney-type jacket ** before I burned out and went home. some of those alternatives are enough to make me sick, ‘Boehner writes.
He presents his harshest assessment of Cruz, which he says made functioning as a speaker difficult in the early 2010s.
“Under the new rules of Crazytown, I may have been Speaker, but I did not have all the power. By 2013, the Chaos caucus in the House had built up their own power base thanks to illegal right-wing media and outrage fundraising. And now they have “had a new insane predecessor, who was not even a House member. There’s nothing more dangerous than a reckless guy who thinks he’s smarter than everyone. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Senator Ted Cruz,” Boehner wrote. .
The time Don Young held a knife to his throat
Boehner tells worn-out Washington stories, including by saying that Alaska rep. Don Young pulled out a 10-inch knife and held it to his throat just off the floor of the house after a Boehner speech that attacked the earplugs.
“You will never do it again,” he growled, “Boehner wrote, adding that he responded by looking Young ‘squarely right in his eyes and saying’ F *** you. ‘
He writes that he told the then Democratic leader of the Senate, Harry Reid, to ‘go himself’ during a meeting in the White House, to Reid – in what Boehner characterized as a deliberate attempt to persuade Conservatives from the House. to abandon madness – the House called ” a dictatorship of the Speaker ”.
‘The speech was aimed at the madmen of the House – he tried to cheer them up even more and make my position even worse. When I saw him in the White House the next day, I was talking quietly to Mitch McConnell before the meeting, I went over, came into Reid’s face and said, ‘Are you even listening to all the shit that comes out of your mouth? You can go f *** yourself, ‘writes Boehner.
Praise for DC veterans in both parties
Boehner largely praises Washington figures in both political parties, many of whom have died, including former Massachusetts Democratic senator Ted Kennedy, former Arizona Republican senator John McCain (whom he says he loves, but mistakes because he has a “main mad as his running mate” in 2008) and former Michigan Democratic Representative John Dingell.
He sometimes refers to President Joe Biden as ‘Uncle Joe’ and writes that Biden once made a hedge about their agreement to alleviate the standing ovations during Obama’s state of the Union.
He even offered praise to independent Senator Bernie Sanders in Vermont.
“The thing about Bernie, by the way, is that he’s probably the most honest person who’s ever elected president. We’ve come to Congress together, and I can tell you, he really believes all the crazy s *** he says. “So he can be nut, but at least he’s not cynical – and a non-cynical politician is rare, no matter how you cut it,” Boehner writes.
Boehner’s relationship with Trump
Boehner writes that the two first got to know each other to play golf before Trump entered politics.
‘He would call me fairly often when he first started for advice or conversations. I was never afraid to tell him when I thought he was wrong, and give him encouragement if he gets it right. But the calls come in less and less as his term of office went on. This is probably because he has become more comfortable at work. But I also suspect that he just got tired of the fact that I advised him to keep quiet, ‘Boehner writes.
He says he was glad he left office before Trump became president.
“I was not in office when Donald Trump was inaugurated as the forty – fifth president of our country. That was good for me because I’m not sure if I belonged to the Republican Party he created,” writes Boehner.
CNN’s Dan Merica, Caroline Kelly, Lauren Dezenski, Clare Foran, Ethan Cohen, Alex Rogers, Jason Hoffman and Terence Burlij contributed to this report.