Rep. Tim Burchett on Tuesday accused former Speaker Kevin McCarthy of elbowing him in the back while the Tennessee Republican was being interviewed in a hallway, the most prominent example of tempers flaring in several confrontations across the Capitol in a single day.
Mr. Burchett said the elbow to the back from the recently deposed speaker was “uncool.”
“It caught me off guard because it was a clean shot to the kidneys, and I turned back and there was Kevin,” he said.
Mr. Burchett was one of the eight Republican lawmakers who ousted Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, in early October after the former speaker sought Democrats to help pass a short-term spending bill to keep the government open.
The incident unfolded when Mr. Burchett was being interviewed by NPR. Mr. McCarthy and his security detail appeared in the hallway, and the former top House Republican reportedly lunged at Mr. Burchett, striking him in the back.
Mr. Burchett then chased after Mr. McCarthy, saying the lawmaker had “no guts.”
SEE ALSO: Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Teamsters president nearly fight at Senate hearing
Mr. McCarthy told CNN he “didn’t shove or elbow” Mr. Burchett, saying it was a tight hallway.
Lawmakers lost their cool elsewhere at the Capitol on Tuesday, with a senator nearly coming to blows with the Teamsters president and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer yelling at Democratic lawmakers at a hearing and calling them “smurfs.”
But Mr. McCarthy’s ambush-by-elbow was the only incident that allegedly became physical.
Although Mr. McCarthy denied that he dealt the blow, Mr. Burchett said after he confronted the former speaker, “It’s like, you know, a guy throws a rock over a fence when he’s a kid and runs home and hides behind his mama’s skirt. You know, he’s got the security detail around him and so nobody’s gonna be able to do anything to him.”
Mr. Burchett told NPR after walking away from Mr. McCarthy that the incident was the first time the two have spoken since the Tennessee lawmaker joined with Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, and others to oust him as speaker.
Mr. Gaetz said the altercation was “wild.”
“McCarthy resorting to pushing people in the halls,” Mr. Gaetz said on X. “What a weak, pathetic husk of a man.”
Across the Capitol, Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma and a union leader nearly got into a brawl during a Senate Health Committee hearing Tuesday, prompting the intervention of Chairman Bernard Sanders as the hearing descended into schoolyard taunts and chaos.
“Sit down, sit down, you’re a United States senator!” Mr. Sanders, Vermont independent, shouted as Mr. Mullin stood up at the dais to confront the union leader.
The fiery and unusual exchange occurred after Mr. Mullin, a Republican, took exception to a series of tweets by Sean M. O’Brien, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, that challenged the senator to settle their differences at “any place, any time, cowboy.”
The pair had verbally sparred at a prior hearing over whether Mr. Mullin had built his company himself.
“You want to run your mouth. We can be two consenting adults, we can finish it here,” Mr. Mullin said.
“Ok, that’s fine, perfect,” Mr. O’Brien said.
“You want to do it now?” Mr. Mullin asked.
“I’d love to do it right now,” Mr. O’Brien replied.
“Stand your butt up then,” Mr. Mullin said.
“You stand your butt up,” Mr. O’Brien said.
The senator did stand, and appeared to move to take his wedding ring off, prompting an outcry from the chamber and rebuke by Mr. Sanders.
The chairman had to talk them down as the pair continued to bicker, during a dressing-down by Mr. Sanders.
“Hold on, stop it,” Mr. Sanders said. “Sit down.”
The hearing was held with the intention of proving how labor unions are improving the lives of the American people.
“This is a hearing,” Mr. Sander said. “And God knows the American people have enough contempt for Congress.”
Mr. Mullin called Mr. O’Brien a “thug,” prompting another back-and-forth about the politeness of pointing at each other. Mr. O’Brien said he wanted to have coffee with the senator, not fight him.
“We’re not here to talk about fights or anything else,” Mr. Sanders said.
And at a House Oversight and Accountability hearing on Tuesday, Chairman James Comer said “financially illiterate” Democrats were spreading a fake news story about his own finances to try to discredit his investigation into President Biden’s family financial dealings.
“You look like a Smurf here, just going around in all this stuff,” Mr. Comer told Rep. Jared Moskowitz after the Florida Democrat compared Mr. Comer‘s own land dealings with allegations that Mr. Biden’s family used his “brand” to enrich themselves with payments from foreign companies.
The brouhaha broke out at a hearing that was supposed to look at wasteful government property holdings. Mr. Moskowitz criticized the hearing, saying it wasn’t what was on his constituents’ minds.
Then he went after Mr. Comer, who was chairing the hearing, pointing to a Daily Beast article last week that said the Kentucky Republican used a shell company to swap land and channel $200,000 to his brother. That’s significant because Mr. Comer is investigating a $200,000 loan James Biden made to his brother several years back, while President Biden was not in office.
Mr. Comer said the article — and Democrats who are repeating it — are “dumb, financially illiterate people.”
He said what happened was his father died, leaving some land. Mr. Comer‘s brother didn’t have money to maintain it so Mr. Comer bought the land, which accounted for the payment Democrats have questioned.
“They’re so financially illiterate that you think that because something says LLC it’s a shell company,” Mr. Comer said. “This company, which I financially disclose, has properties, OK? It manages over 1,000 acres of land for hunting purposes. it owns different properties. I’m one of the largest landowners in my home area, OK? I went to the bank and I borrowed money and I bought that land. I didn’t get wires from Romania, China. My family doesn’t get wires.”
Mr. Comer then called Rep. Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat who has joined Mr. Moskowitz in the criticism, “Mr. Trust Fund.”
Mr Moskowitz then got defensive. He first tried to shut down Mr. Comer, saying the exchange was coming out of his own time for questions. When Mr. Comer then stopped the clock to continue the fight, Mr. Moskowitz said he was just raising questions.
“Why should they believe what you’re saying?” the Democrat demanded. “We don’t know if that’s what you’re doing or not. We don’t know.”
“You’ve already been proven a liar, Mr. Moskowitz,” Mr. Comer retorted.
“Your word means nothing,” Mr. Moskowitz replied. “This seems to have gotten under your skin. I think the American people have lots of questions, Mr. Chairman. Perhaps you should sit for a deposition.”
Mr. Comer said he would pay for a ticket for Mr. Moskowitz to go to Kentucky and conduct an investigation.
He also offered to sit down with James Biden and Hunter Biden, the president’s son, and “we can go over our LLCs.”
“Let’s do that,” Mr. Comer said.
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