Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA.) got into a heated exchange with reporters, blaming the Democratic Party for bringing “chaos to Congress.”
After lawmakers convened for the weekend on Friday, CNN’s Manu Raju asked McCarthy's acting Speaker, Patrick Henry (R-N.C.), to take on more responsibility as the vacated Speaker’s position has stalled Congress’s schedule.
“So they’ve really stymied, they brought chaos in … Congress, and now they’ve tried to stymie our ability to have continuity of Congress, which I think is a real problem, what the Democrats have done,” McCarthy responded.
Ten days ago, McCarthy was ousted from his speakership by eight Republicans and all Democrats.
McCarthy alleged the reason Democrats voted to remove him from his position in Congress, in which he only served for nine months, was that his opposing party did not want to pay military members in government if the government would have shut down.
“That's why they wanted to throw me out,” McCarthy claimed. “All the Democrats voted to try to bring chaos.”
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH.) was nominated for House Speaker after Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA.) dropped out of the race late Thursday night after not receiving enough Republican support.
McCarthy announced his support for Jordan, saying he is confident the Ohio congressman will secure enough votes to win in a floor vote.
He also told reporters that a new House Speaker will be elected “shortly” and that things are “going well.”
“They tried to make a motion in there to bring me back, and I just told them, ‘No, let’s not do that. Let’s walk through this and have an election,'” McCarthy said. “And I think Jim Jordan would do an excellent job.”