Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) does not believe House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is capable of serving as Speaker of the House.
During a virtual event with Politico Tuesday, he told the publication, “I certainly wouldn’t support him if it was today… This country deserves people that are going to do tough things and tell the truth.”
He added, “The easiest thing for me and Liz and others like me is to just kind of go along with the party line and hide a little bit. It would be a lot easier.”
Check out his comments below:
House Republicans ousted Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her leadership role earlier this month following her criticism of former President Donald Trump, as IJR reported.
Kinzinger previously said he believes McCarthy’s leadership should be the one in question, claiming he warned the minority leader “that his words and our party’s actions would lead to violence on January 6th. Kevin dismissively responded with ‘OK Adam, operator next question.’ And we got violence.”
On Tuesday, he called on McCarthy to kick Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) out of the House Republican conference after she compared the House mask mandate to the Holocaust, as IJR reported.
“As a party, you can’t stop someone from calling themselves a Republican or declaring themselves a Republican. You know, getting on the ballot and winning,” he told Politico.
Kinzinger continued, “But what we can do as a party is take a stand and say, ‘You don’t belong in our conference.’ That’s what I think we should do. I think we should kick her out of the conference. Prevent her from coming to conference meetings, benefiting from conference materials. And, I’m not sure if that will happen, but it’s just going to continue.”
McCarthy said in a statement Greene is “wrong” and “her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling.”
He added, “Let me be clear: the House Republican Conference condemns this language.”
