Things reportedly got a little heated on Capitol Hill when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) walked by one of the Republican lawmakers who helped oust him.
On Tuesday, NPR’s Claudia Grisales wrote about an incident that occurred while she was speaking to Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), one of the eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy.
“Have NEVER seen this on Capitol Hill… [McCarthy] walked by with his detail and McCarthy shoved Burchett. Burchett lunged towards me. I thought it was a joke, it was not. And a chase ensued,” she shared.
She added Burchett’s back was to McCarthy when he was shoved and he initially responded light-heartedly, but then “seriously yelled, ‘why’d you elbow me in the back Kevin?! Hey Kevin, you got any guts!?'”
Burchett's back was to McCarthy and his detail walking by in the hallway, then the lunge.
— Claudia Grisales (on Bsky & Threads) (@cgrisales) November 14, 2023
Burchett responded jokingly as McCarthy kept walking, "Sorry Kevin didn't mean to elbow –" then seriously yelled, "why'd you elbow me in the back Kevin?! Hey Kevin, you got any guts!?"
Burchett told Grisales that had never happened before and called the California Republican a “jerk” before taking off after him.
Once he caught up to McCarthy, the former House speaker insisted he did not elbow Burchett in the back.
The Tennessee Republican charged, “You got no guts, you did so, …the reporter said it right there, what kind of chicken move is that… You’re pathetic man, you are so pathetic.”
Burchett con't: "You got no guts, you did so, …the reporter said it right there, what kind of chicken move is that? You're pathetic man, you are so pathetic."
— Claudia Grisales (on Bsky & Threads) (@cgrisales) November 14, 2023
Burchett starts to walk away from McCarthy, tells me, "What a jerk," and then yells back, "You need security Kevin!"
Burchett told Grisales that was the first communication he had with McCarthy since the vote to oust him last month.
Speaking to CNN’s Manu Raju, Burchett said of the incident, “I got elbowed in the back and it kind of caught me off guard because it was a clean shot to the kidneys. And I turned back [and] there was Kevin, and for a minute I was kind of what the heck just happened and then chased after him of course.”
The House was not the only chamber that had some excitement on Tuesday.
During a Senate hearing, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) challenged labor leader Sean O’Brien to a fight to settle a feud.
