Kevin McCarthy faces an ethics complaint after allegedly elbowing a fellow Republican lawmaker in the back on Capitol Hill.
Former US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has allegedly assaulted a Republican colleague who had voted last month to oust him from his leadership position. The allegation has lead to an ethics complaint against McCarthy.
The incident was said to have occurred on Tuesday, while Rep Tim Burchett was speaking with an NPR reporter, Claudia Grisales, in a US Capitol hallway, following a closed-door meeting of GOP lawmakers. Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, said McCarthy elbowed him in the back as he walked behind him. Grisales said she saw McCarthy shove Burchett from behind, causing Burchett to lunge toward her.
Burchett later told reporters that McCarthy was protected by his bodyguards after the painful jab, which he called a \u201cclean shot to the kidneys.\u201d He said he believes the incident was retribution for his decision to vote with seven other Republicans to remove McCarthy as speaker \u2013 the first such ouster in US history.
Burchett can be heard reacting to the alleged jab in an audio clip of the incident. At one point, he followed McCarthy down the hallway and asked the ex-speaker why he\u2019d hit him in the back. McCarthy denied elbowing him, at which point Burchett said, \u201cYou\u2019ve got no guts. You did so \u2026 the reporter said it right there. What kind of chicken move is that? You\u2019re pathetic, man.\u201d
\u201cA guy throws a rock over the fence when he was a kid and runs home and hides behind his momma\u2019s skirt,\u201d Burchett said. \u201cHe\u2019s got his security detail around. He knows nobody\u2019s gonna do anything to him.\u201d
McCarthy, a California Republican, denied that he shoved or elbowed his colleague, telling CNN that the hallway in which he passed behind Burchett was cramped.
Representative Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican who led the campaign to replace McCarthy as House speaker, filed an ethics complaint following the alleged assault.
\u201cThis Congress has seen a substantial increase in breaches of decorum unlike anything we have seen since the pre-Civil War era,\u201d Gaetz wrote in his complaint. \u201cI myself have been a victim of outrageous conduct on the House floor as well, but nothing like an open and public assault on a member, committed by another member. The rot starts at the top.\u201d
The alleged incident came on the same day that a US senator nearly came to blows with a witness during a committee hearing. Oklahoma Republican Markwayne Mullin confronted Teamsters president Sean O\u2019Brien about a social media post in which the labor union leader accused the senator of playing a \u201ctough-guy act\u201d and challenged him to a fight \u201cany place, any time, cowboy.\u201d
\u201cSir, this is the time, this is the place, if you want to run your mouth,\u201d Mullin said. \u201cWe can be two consenting adults; we can finish it here.\u201d
\u201cOK, that\u2019s fine. Perfect. I\u2019d love to do it right now,\u201d O’Brien replied.
When Mullin stood up and began moving toward O\u2019Brien, Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who was tasked with chairing the committee, intervened.
\u201cThis is a hearing,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cAnd God knows the American people have enough contempt for Congress. Let\u2019s not make it worse.\u201d
Mullin, a businessman who was sworn in as a senator earlier this year, fought and won three MMA fights in 2006 and 2007. <\/p>\n\n\n\n