CNN’s chief congressional correspondent spoke to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday, and the former speaker had some choice words for some of his fellow Republicans.
Manu Raju told CNN’s Dana Bash Thursday that there was “no love lost” between McCarthy and those who voted to oust him from the speakership on October 3.
Speaking specifically of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, McCarthy said the Republican Party would be “tremendously” better off if Gaetz lost his House seat.
He had a similar comment to make about South Carolina’s Nancy Mace, predicting that she’d lose her seat in next year’s election.
“If you’ve watched her, just her philosophy, and the flip-flopping, I don’t believe she wins reelection,” McCarthy said.
“People have to earn the right to be here,” McCarthy said of Gaetz. “And I just think from — I mean he’ll admit to you personally. He doesn’t have a conservative bent in his philosophy. And just the nature of what he focuses on.”
McCarthy said he didn’t expect House Republicans “will ever heal if there’s no consequences [for Gaetz] for the action.”
The former speaker argued that Mace, Gaetz and Tennessee’s Tim Burchett weren’t interested in pushing conservative policy, but in getting the kind of media attention that would help them get reelected.
“They care a lot about press, not about policy, and so they seem to just want the press and the personality,” he said.
When Raju reached out to the three Republicans, they didn’t hesitate to fire back at their former leader.
“I mean, this was a guy who lied all the time, like every day,” Mace told CNN. “I mean, he told conservatives he was absolutely gonna impeach Joe Biden. Two hours later, the same day, told moderates that he would never impeach Joe Biden, a guy like that can’t lead our country. And we’ve moved on to a much better speaker who’s honest and trustworthy and is going to tell the truth.”
“I raise $6 million every two years for my reelection campaign,” she added, arguing that McCarthy’s role in raising money for her previous campaigns wasn’t as important to her as he seemed to think it was. “I know exactly how to raise money. I know exactly how to run — women can run and women can win, Kevin McCarthy — surprise.”
The entire CNN interview with McCarthy will air Sunday on CNN’s “Inside Politics.”
I walked into the office one morning and noticed something strange. Half of The Western Journal’s readership was missing.
It had finally happened. Facebook had flipped THE switch.
Maybe it was because we wrote about ivermectin. Or election integrity. Or the Jan. 6 detainees. Or ballot mules.
Whatever the reason, I immediately knew what to do. We had to turn to you because, frankly, we know you are the only ones we can trust.
Every donation to The Western Journal goes directly to funding our team of story researchers, writers and editors who doggedly pursue the truth and expose the corrupt elites.
Can I count on you for a small donation? We operate on a shoestring compared to other news media companies, so I can personally promise that not a penny of your donation will be wasted.
We will use every single cent to fight against the lies and corruption in high places.
Sincerely,
Josh Manning
Deputy Managing Editor
The Western Journal
The post Kevin McCarthy Tells CNN That 2 of His Colleagues Should No Longer Be in Congress appeared first on The Western Journal.