Kevin McCarthy — oh no he didn’t! — smacks down journalist

OPINION:

A C-SPAN microphone recently caught a female journalist pressing Speaker Kevin McCarthy to explain his decision to keep Chinese-spy-loving Eric Swalwell and liar-liar-pants-on-fire Adam Schiff off the House Intelligence Committee.

After her snark, her arrogance, her holier-than-thou questioning, the newly elected speaker said this: Sit down and shut up — OK?

Well, no he didn’t.

But — kind of, he did. His version just took about two minutes longer, that’s all.

After she asked, then cut him off during his answer to ask again, then cut him off during his answer to ask again, McCarthy finally cut her off and said: “Let me be very clear and respectful to you. You ask me a question — when I answer it, it’s the answer to your question. You don’t get to determine whether I answer a question or not, OK? In all respect. Thank you.”

When other journalists then tried to break in, McCarthy insisted on first answering the female reporter first.

“You just raised a question, let me be very clear to you. The Intel Committee is very different; you know why? What happens in the Intel Committee — you don’t know. What happens in the Intel Committee, of the secrets that are going on in the world, other members of Congress don’t know,’ McCarthy said. 

He went on: “What did Adam Schiff do as chairman of the Intel Committee? … [He] used his power as the chairman and lied to the American public — even the inspector general said it.”

Devin Nunes memo, anyone? Hunter Biden laptop, anyone? Schiff dismissed both as false — even knowing differently — even knowing from Intel Committee behind-closed-doors info that he was advancing a false narrative. For political reasons. For anti-Donald Trump purposes.

Don’t forget the whistleblower.

McCarthy didn’t.

“When a whistleblower came forward,” McCarthy said, “[Schiff] said he did not know the individual even though his staff had met with him.”

Yes. Yep.

The whistleblower was the guy who complained about Trump “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election” — a claim that ended up proving false.

A claim that Schiff advanced for political reasons.

“Factcheck: Adam Schiff wrong on whistleblower contact,” USA Today blasted in a February 2019, headline. The factcheck went on to state that Schiff “wrongly implied that his committee had no contact with the whistleblower before receiving the complaint” — which is to say he lied.  

Mainstream media only uses the words lie and liar when they accompany the labels Republican, GOP, conservative or Trump.

Back to McCarthy.

“So yes, [Schiff] can serve on a committee, but he will not serve on Intel because it goes to the national security of America,” McCarthy said.

What about Swalwell?

“If you want to talk about Swalwell, let’s talk about Swalwell, because you have not had the briefing I’ve had. I had the briefing and Nancy Pelosi had the briefing from the FBI,” he said. “The FBI never came before this Congress to tell the leadership that Eric Swalwell had a problem with a Chinese spy until he served on Intel. So it wasn’t just us who were concerned about [him]. The FBI was concerned about putting a member of Congress on the Intel Committee that has the rights to see things that others don’t because of his knowledge and relationship with a Chinese spy. They brought it to the [leadership]. I got that briefing. So I do not believe he should sit on that [Intel] committee and I believe there’s 200 other Democrats that can serve on that committee.”

Good points, all.

He wasn’t finished.

“But you know what? Those voters elected Schiff even though he lied; those voters elected Swalwell, even though he lied to the American public too, so you know what? I’ll respect his voters, too, and they’ll serve on committees. But they will not serve on a place that has national security,” McCarthy said, “because integrity matters to me. That’s the answer to your question.”

Ouch.

Bam.

That’s an answer, all rightee.

Sit down and shut up — in long form.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE  or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.