Kevin McCarthy Cursed Out Nancy Pelosi In Contentious Phone Call: ‘What you’re doing is unprecedented’
GOP leader Kevin McCarthy read Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi the riot act during a contentious phone call as the two discussed the select committee to look at Jan 6.
Voices were raised according to multiple sources including Kevin McCarthy, who confirmed the reports. Kevin ripped her a new one and told Pelosi that if she followed through and kicked Jim Jordan and Jim Banks off the committee the move would come back to haunt her. “What you’re doing is unprecedented,” McCarthy told Pelosi.
“The unprecedented nature of January 6th demands this unprecedented decision,” Pelosi said. “Speaker Pelosi’s rejection of the Republican nominees to serve on the committee and self-appointment of members who share her preconceived narrative will not yield a serious investigation,” Kevin said earlier.
“The Speaker has structured this select committee to satisfy her political objectives. She had months to work with Republicans on a reasonable and fair approach to get answers on the events and security failures surrounding January 6,” he added.
Kevin concluded: “Instead, she has played politics. Lost in much of the news coverage is the fact that the Senate has already conducted bipartisan investigations that should serve as a roadmap for the House.”
From The Hill:
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Monday derided Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) as “Pelosi Republicans” for serving on a committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Reporters asked McCarthy in the Rose Garden of the White House about the panel established to investigate the insurrection, specifically about Republican concerns about the lack of GOP participation on the committee. Cheney and Kinzinger are the only two Republicans on the committee. McCarthy withdrew his appointments after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blocked two of his picks.
“Who is that? Adam and Liz? Aren’t they kind of like Pelosi Republicans?” McCarthy said prior to an event to mark the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Speaking to another group of reporters, McCarthy again referred to the two as “Pelosi Republicans.” He declined to say if he planned to somehow punish them for agreeing to take part in the investigation.
“I think that’s pretty childish,” Cheney said at the Capitol when asked about McCarthy’s comments.
Kinzinger also described McCarthy’s remark as “childish.”
“We’re doing big things right now. We’re getting to the answers of the worst attack on the Capitol since the War of 1812. He can call me any names he wants, Kinzinger said. “I’m a Republican. Kevin McCarthy is technically my Republican leader. And to call, you know, members of Congress by childish names like Donald Trump used to do, I guess it’s just kind of par [for the course].”
From CNN:
Even before the latest blow-up, McCarthy and Pelosi weren’t close and their contact was minimal, with most communication done at the staff level. During the coronavirus aide negotiations last year, for example, Pelosi worked directly with then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. And McCarthy often prefers to do business with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, especially when it comes to floor matters.
The relationship between Pelosi and McCarthy is different than with the GOP leader’s predecessors, former Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan, and Democrats say it’s because he’s viewed as singularly focused on taking back the House majority.
To Republicans, Pelosi’s removal of Jordan and Banks was the latest in a string of actions where she disregarded their views and took unilateral action while ignoring their outcries. The rejection of the two men prompted McCarthy to pull all his picks, even as Republican Rep. Liz Cheney accepted a Pelosi appointment in defiance of GOP leadership.
“Speaker Pelosi has removed any credibility that (the committee) has, regardless of who was on it, because she removed people who were going to be asking fair and tough questions to try to get at the facts,” said Rep. Steve Scalise, the House GOP whip. “And obviously Speaker Pelosi doesn’t want to get at the facts, she wants to create a political narrative.”
Rep. Kevin McCarthy on Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger: "Aren't they Pelosi Republicans?" pic.twitter.com/k0mVHBbM6m
— The Hill (@thehill) July 26, 2021
House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy told me “we’ll see” when asked if Cheney and Kinzinger will be punished for serving on Jan 6 committee. I asked him the last time he talked to either of them: “Couldn’t tell you.” He called them “Pelosi Republicans.” pic.twitter.com/jMyjJBoq5I
— Emily Goodin (@Emilylgoodin) July 26, 2021
A heated phone call, a Pelosi power move and now GOP is vowing revenge. “What you’re doing is unprecedented,” McCarthy told her. Publicly, she agreed it was unprecedented and said it was necessary. How the relationship has devolved. @MZanona https://t.co/m7cWNVKXNv
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 26, 2021
At the WH, McCarthy says the call with him and Pelosi was “contentious” and defends his selections to the panel. “So I was passionate about my beliefs.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 26, 2021