(CNN) Donald Trump suggested Thursday that he was partly responsible for House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's decision to drop his bid to become speaker.
"They're giving me a lot of credit for that because I said you really need someone very, very, tough and very smart," Trump said at a campaign event in Las Vegas. "You know, smart goes with tough. I know tough people that aren't smart. That's the worst. We need smart, we need tough, we need the whole package."
Trump last week cast doubt on McCarthy's qualifications after the No. 2 House Republican slipped up and touted the House Select Committee on Benghazi's success in knocking down Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton's poll numbers -- a gaffe that prompted a swift rebuke from his GOP colleagues.
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