Former US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke to members of his own party, lashing out at Republicans who voted to oust him on Tuesday, according to NYP.
They’re not conservatives and they don’t get to call themselves conservatives.
These words were addressed to the eight members of the Republican Party who, along with Democrats, supported the historic effort to remove McCarthy as Speaker. He did not respond to a question about House member Matt Gaetz (Florida Republican), the mastermind behind his ouster.
“You all know Matt Gaetz. You know it was personal. It had nothing to do with spending.”
McCarthy said his Florida counterpart’s actions were prompted by a House Ethics Committee investigation pressuring the Sunshine State (Florida) lawmaker.
Regardless of what you think, I’ve seen the texts. It was all about his Ethics, but that’s alright.
The former speaker lasted 269 days as leader of the lower chamber, which is the shortest in almost 150 years. He also accused House member Matt Rosendale (Montana Republican) of calling for Republicans to suffer defeats in the 2022 midterm elections.
“Matt Rosendale. He goes to Mass every day. But you know what he said his prayer was all last year? That Republicans didn’t have a big victory. That they had a narrow victory. When you have members like that, that are part of your team, you’ve got a tough team.”
McCarthy then insinuated that House member Nancy Mace (South Carolina Republican) lied on “The View” by telling the cast that he hadn’t kept his promises to her.
I bite my lip. I let people say things that are not true… Her chief of staff told all of us we have kept every single one of our words. And he said he’s told her that, too.
Mace, Gaetz and Rosendale, as well as Representatives Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ken Buck of Colorado, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Eli Crane of Arizona and Bob Good of Virginia, united to declare the office of Speaker vacant by a vote of 216-210.
“My fear is the institution fell today, because you can’t do the job if eight people – you have 94% of, or 96% of, your entire conference – but eight people can partner with the whole other side. How do you govern?”
McCarthy also denied Gaetz’s accusations of a “secret side deal with President Biden on Ukraine” designed to prevent a government shutdown. The former Speaker explained that he only approached the Biden administration to discuss the “transfer of money” in the continuing resolution.
Look I support arming Ukraine. That doesn’t mean sending them cash but arming Ukraine… I think the president is failing here because he’s not telling the American public what is the mission.
With McCarthy gone, lawmakers will now face a repeat of January’s marathon process, when it took 15 House votes over five days to elect a speaker.
