Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is not taking his ouster gracefully.
No one has seen anything like this.
And Kevin McCarthy threw an elbow at one Republican that led to this wild scene.
CNN’s Claudia Grisales described a wild turn of events when McCarthy elbowed Tennessee Republican Congressman Tim Burchett in the back as McCarthy passed Burchett in the hallway of the Capitol building.
Burchett was one of the conservatives who voted in favor of a motion to vacate the chair, which removed McCarthy as Speaker of the House and McCarthy sought some kind of physical retribution.
This led to Burchett chasing down McCarthy and confronting him over the elbow.
Burchett then looked back at me and said, "jerk" referring to McCarthy. I asked if he had done that before, Burchett said "no."
That's when the chase ensued. Burchett took off after McCarthy and his detail. I chased behind with my mic.
— Claudia Grisales (@cgrisales) November 14, 2023
McCarthy lost the trust of conservatives after repeatedly caving in to Joe Biden during spending negotiations.
Burchett confirmed that account of events to CNN’s Manu Raju, saying he couldn’t believe McCarthy whacked him in the kidney with an elbow and compared the former Speaker of the House to a schoolyard coward.
“I turned back and there was Kevin,” Burchett stated. “For a minute, I was kinda ‘What the heck just happened?’ I chased after him.”
“As I have stated many times, he’s a bully with $17 million and a security detail. He is the type of guy that when you are a kid, he would throw the rock over the fence and run home hide behind his mama’s skirt . . . That is not the way we handle things in East Tennessee. If we have a problem with somebody, I’m gonna look ’em in the eye and talk to them,” Burchett added.
Burchett told Raju he called out McCarthy to his face, but said it wasn’t worth losing sleep over as everyone expects McCarthy to soon resign from Congress now that he is out of leadership.
“I raised my voice to him. I thought it was appropriate, and you just don’t expect a guy who was at one time three steps away from the White House to hit you with a sucker punch in the hallway,” Burchett stated.
“He is not worth it. He is going to be gone here after Christmas or next year,” Burchett concluded. “It’s over as far as I’m concerned.”
