Photograph: Julia Nihinson/Reuters 'Bully': McCarthy accused of pushing Republican who helped oust him
Tim Burchett calls former speaker «pathetic» after Capitol confrontation witnessed by NPR reporter Claudia Grisales.
An American radio reporter witnessed a remarkable altercation Tuesday at the Capitol between Tennessee's Tim Burchett and Kevin McCarthy California. , the Republican speaker, eight right-wingers, including Burchett, were fired from that position last month.
NPR's Claudia Grisales said, «NEVER seen this on Capitol Hill: While talking to Tim Burchett after the GOP convention, former Speaker McCarthy walked by with his people, and McCarthy pushed Burchett. Burchett rushed towards me. I thought it was a joke, but it's not. And a chase ensued.»
The Republican praises the Jan. 6 attacker's «integrity and fundamental principles.» back, Kevin?! Hey Kevin, do you have courage?! and called McCarthy a «jerk.»
Grisales said, «I chased him with a microphone.»
She said McCarthy told Burchett, “I didn’t elbow you in the back.”
Burchett said, “You got no guts, you did it… the reporter immediately said, what kind of chicken move is this? You're pathetic, dude.»
Telling Grisales he was «flabbergasted,» Burchett said the confrontation was his first interaction with McCarthy since he helped make it the first speaker ever removed. his party.
Last week, McCarthy told CNN that Burchett's vote to remove him was «unnatural» and accused him and his fellow insurrectionists of «caring a lot about the press and not about politics, and so they seem to just want to the press and the individual.”
Burchett said McCarthy was “tough” back then.
McCarthy has flirted or reportedly been involved in physical confrontations before. In January, when the right forced him to become speaker by 15 votes, he faced Florida's Matt Gaetz in the House. Mike Rogers of Alabama, a McCarthy ally, had to be restrained. Gaetz ultimately became the mastermind behind McCarthy's ouster.
Meanwhile, in his new memoir, retired anti-Trump Republican Adam Kinzinger of Illinois details two times he believes McCarthy allegedly pushed him. .
Kinzinger says McCarthy “tried to physically intimidate me. One day I was standing in the passage that ran from the floor to the back of the room [of the House]. Walking past, along with his guard and several of his guys, he turned to me, hit me with his shoulder, and then continued walking.
“If we were in high school, I would dropped my textbooks, papers would be scattered, and I would have to endure the laughter of passers-by. I was amazed, but I took it as what Kevin did when he liked you.
“Another time I was standing at the railing that goes around the back of the last row of seats in the hall. When he tapped me on the shoulder again, I thought, “What a kid!”
McCarthy did not immediately comment on the situation Tuesday. At the Capitol, Burchett spoke to CNN.
«I was interviewed by NPR's Claudia, a lovely woman,» he said. “And… at that time they elbowed me in the back. And it took me by surprise because it was a clean shot in the kidneys. And I turned around, and there was Kevin, and… it just happened, and then I chased him.
“Of course, as I've said many times, he's a bully with 17 million dollars in security, and he's the kind of guy who, when you were a kid, threw a rock over the fence, ran home and hid behind their mom's skirt.
“He hit me from behind…we don't do that in East Tennessee. We have a problem: someone will look him in the eyes.”
A kidney hit is “a little different,” Burchett said. You don't have to hit very hard to cause minor or severe pain. And so he… just denies it or blames someone else or something. But I just backed down because… I had nothing to gain from it if everyone saw it.»
Burchett said the incident was «symptomatic of the problems that [McCarthy ] During his short tenure as Speaker… he did not turn around and face me. He kept fussing and trying to keep people between me [to] deal with it.»
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