Former Republican Will Hurd has pointed the finger at ex-President Donald Trump for being behind the GOP-related mishaps in recent years.
When asked by an NBC Meet the Press host what role Trump should play in the GOP's future, Hurd said, “I think very little, if none at all”.
"This is a president that lost the House, the Senate, the White House in four years. I think the last person to do that was [the 31st US President] Herbert Hoover, and that was during the Great Depression”, the ex-GOP lawmaker added.
He spoke after ex-presidential adviser Jason Miller said on Sunday that the future of the Republican Party would be the focus of Trump’s address at the four-day Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) due to kick off on 25 February.
The CPAC speech will be the ex-POTUS’ first major public appearance since leaving office on 20 January, when media reports emerged to claim that Trump had recently discussed the idea of forming a new political party.
The reported developments come amid some GOP members’ anger at Trump over the deadly riots in Washington on 6 January, which saw some of his supporters breach the Capitol in a bid to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College votes.
Last week, GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell launched an attack on the ex-president, right after voting against his impeachment.
"There's no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the [6 January] events. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president”, McConnell asserted.
The Senate acquitted the former president last week, with those lawmakers who sought to convict him failing to secure the needed two-thirds majority. Trump, who rejected the process as a hoax, became the first-ever American president to be impeached twice.