Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-California) criticized the eight House Republicans who voted against him and facilitated his removal as the House speaker, saying that they supported Democrats and ended up causing chaos.
He termed their alliance with Democrats as “one of the biggest mistakes” they made, he told Fox News.
Despite his ouster, McCarthy expressed his intention to support Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who is the GOP’s nominee, in taking over his previous role as speaker.
“The real challenge here is eight Republicans did something. No one would have thought that they would work with every single Democrat to disrupt this nation, to remove me as speaker. It has taught people now that why don’t you just go work with Democrats and disrupt government? This will go down in history as one of the biggest mistakes these eight have made in the process,” he said.
Eight Republicans, including Reps. Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Matt Gaetz, Bob Good, Nancy Mace and Matt Rosendale, supported the removal of the speaker. This was the first time in U.S. history that the chamber had voted out a speaker.
For several months, Gaetz had been making threats against McCarthy, and he ultimately filed the motion against him when the former speaker passed a stopgap plan with the help of Democrats that averted a government shutdown.
McCarthy lost by just six votes, with 208 Democrats and eight Republicans voting against him, bringing the final tally to 216-210.
As war tensions increase in the Middle East, there is a sense of urgency to fill the currently vacant speakership.
Last week, Rep. John Duarte (R-California) appealed to his colleagues to reinstate McCarthy as speaker, arguing that the House needs to provide additional weapons and defense support to Israel.
Duarte also lauded McCarthy’s leadership qualities, citing examples of his success in passing “bipartisan and constructive” legislation. According to Duarte, McCarthy’s removal from his previous role as speaker was unnecessary.
