Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) certainly made the rounds on Sunday shows this week. She's drawing particular attention for remarks made on CNN's "State of the Union," where host Dana Bash asked her about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), prompting Warren to call McCarthy "a liar and a traitor."
"Kevin McCarthy is a Liar and a traitor." @ewarren reacts to new audio of McCarthy talking about former President Trump's role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. #CNNSOTU @CNNSotu pic.twitter.com/gHnxfPoEva
— CNN (@CNN) April 24, 2022
There has been a flutter of media reports surrounding audio of McCarthy saying that "it would be my recommendation he should resign," speaking about former President Donald Trump. McCarthy has denied he wanted Trump to resign though.
"You know he's not saying that now," Bash pointed out, acknowledging the denials McCarthy has made. "What's your reaction," she asked of Warren.
"Kevin McCarthy is a liar and a traitor," Warren said. "This is outrageous. And that is really the illness that pervades the Republican leadership right now, that they say one thing to the American public and something else in private."
She continued with a rant about the Republican Party overall. "They understand that it is wrong, what happened, an attempt to overthrow our government, and that the Republicans instead want to continue to try to figure out how to make 2020 election different, instead of spending their energy on how it is that we go forward in order to build an economy, in order to make this country work better for the people who sent us to Washington. Shame on McCarthy," Warren said before the segment concluded.
Not only has McCarthy issued denials, but, as Spencer covered on Saturday, Trump acknowledged to The Wall Street Journal that McCarthy "made a call. I heard the call. I didn’t like the call" but "almost immediately as you know, because he came here and we took a picture right there—you know, the support was very strong."
Trump also expressed about McCarthy that "I like him. And other than that brief period of time, I suspect he likes me quite a bit." While he didn't exactly give a huge, glowing endorsement for McCarthy to become the next speaker, Trump did add "I don’t know of anybody else that’s running and I think that I’ve had actually a very good relationship with him."
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called out Sen. Warren for her "attack[s]," and predicted McCarthy will be speaker.
Elizabeth Warren attacking Kevin McCarthy over honesty tells you how frightened and unhinged the Democrats are.Adam Schiff has been lying nonstop for at least four years.Biden is either lying or simply doesn’t know what he is saying much of the time. McCarthy will be Speaker
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) April 24, 2022
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) was on "Fox News Sunday" to remind guest host Sandra Smith of the "context" that McCarthy's comments came in.
"This is literally right after Jan. 6. It was a very dark day and a very shocking day. A lot of emotions flying high. What Kevin was doing was gaming out various options, like, 'Hey what if he got impeached in the House and then the Senate convicted? Would it be better for him to resign?'" McCaul also pointed out that McCarthy never did have that conservation with Trump and reminded that Trump supports McCarthy.
Bash and Sen. Warren had also discussed the possibility of Democrats losing control of the 50-50 U.S. Senate. Democrats have already been forecast to lose their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, where Republicans only need to pick up five seats.
Despite claiming that there is an "illness that pervades the Republican leadership right now," and that the party is focusing on the wrong issues, Warren also acknowledged that if Democrats don't do their job of "deliver[ing] on behalf of those [hurting American] families," they could lose their majority and, as Warren phrased it "I think we're going to be in real trouble."
Last week, Warren had a guest essay published in The New York Times, about how "Democrats Can Avoid Disaster in November," where she made similar points.
On a separate Sunday show, Warren was asked by guest host Kristen Welker on NBC's "Meet the Press" about whether she will run for president in 2024. "I'm not running for president in 2024. I'm running for Senate. President Biden is running for re-election in 2024," she replied.
WATCH: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) says on #MTP that she “is not running for president" in 2024, but wouldn't say what she'd do if Biden didn't run.@SenWarren: “I’m not running for president in 2024, I’m running for Senate.” pic.twitter.com/7FVEqmlsch
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 24, 2022
Sen. Warren was adamant that she is not running for president, and that she will support President Joe Biden in his re-election bid for 2024. "You can ask it any way you want, but I'm going to say the same thing. President Biden is running in 2024 and I'm supporting him," she said.
It's nevertheless noteworthy that the media is bringing it up.
Earlier on Sunday, Hanna Trudo wrote "Sanders, Warren attract presidential speculation with big moves" for The Hill, where referenced the segment, as well as a leaked memo from last week that signaled Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is not ruling out running for president for a third time, should Biden not run for re-election after all.
Sen. Warren was also included in a ranking of ten Democratic candidates for president in 2024 earlier this month from The Washington Post. She came in fourth.
Although Biden came in first, it's still noteworthy that the list was published at all. The Washington Post has also speculated before that Biden may not run for re-election despite his claims that he will.
"Elizabeth Warren" was trending over Twitter on Sunday.