Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pushed back against a Fox News reporter after the House failed to elect a new speaker in the first round of voting on Tuesday.
Twenty Republicans voted against Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the nominee for speaker, on the first ballot. These twenty blocked Jordan from receiving the necessary 217 votes to win the speakership, after which the chamber went into recess.
During the recess, McCarthy told Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergum that Republicans will come together to solve the division. He then blamed the predicament on House Democrats and the eight Republicans who voted with them to oust him as speaker on Oct. 3.
“You feel bad for Mr. — do you feel bad right now for Mr. Jordan? You threw your support [behind] him. Do you feel bad for him?” Pergum asked.
“No, no. Don’t over-read into this. This is about the same vote I had in my first vote out,” McCarthy said, leading Pergum to push back.
“No, no, no, no, no,” McCarthy immediately interjected. “Let’s go back to how it got here. We wouldn’t be here if every single Democrat didn’t vote with eight Republicans to shut this place down. That’s — no.” (RELATED: Here Are The 20 Republicans Who Voted Against Jim Jordan For Speaker In First Ballot Vote)
“Twenty Republicans voted against Jim Jordan on the floor, including two votes for somebody who’s not even a member anymore,” Pergum interrupted, referring to former GOP New York Rep. Lee Zeldin.
“Every single Democrat and eight Republicans voted to shut down one branch of government. That is why we’re here today,” the California Republican responded. “There’s no other reason why we’re here today but because of that. Now we had a vote on the floor, it didn’t get to the whole point, now we’ll take a break, talk to people, come back and solve it.”
Every congressional Democrat and eight Republicans voted to remove McCarthy from leadership in an Oct. 3 floor vote in response to Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz filing a motion to vacate. The motion forced a vote on vacating McCarthy’s seat, leaving the House without a speaker.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise initially secured the nomination to be speaker, but announced his withdrawal from the race in an Oct. 12 statement over the division in the Republican conference.
Jordan then received the nomination and received endorsements from both McCarthy and former President Donald Trump.