Rep. Tim Burchett on Tuesday accused former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of elbowing him in the back while the Tennessee Republican was being interviewed in a hallway, the most prominent example of tempers flaring in several confrontations across the Capitol in a single day.
Mr. Burchett said the elbow to the back from the recently deposed speaker was “uncool.”
“It caught me off guard because it was a clean shot to the kidneys, and I turned back and there was Kevin,” he said.
Mr. Burchett was one of the eight Republican lawmakers who ousted Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, in early October after the speaker sought Democrats to help pass a short-term spending bill to keep the government open.
The incident unfolded while NPR was interviewing Mr. Burchett. Mr. McCarthy and his security detail appeared in the hallway, and the former top House Republican reportedly lunged at Mr. Burchett, striking him in the back.
Mr. Burchett then chased after Mr. McCarthy, saying the lawmaker had “no guts.”
SEE ALSO: Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Teamsters president nearly fight at Senate hearing
Mr. McCarthy told CNN he “didn’t shove or elbow” Mr. Burchett. He said it was a tight hallway.
Lawmakers lost their cool elsewhere at the Capitol on Tuesday. A senator nearly came to blows with the Teamsters president, and House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer yelled at Democratic lawmakers at a hearing and called them “Smurfs.”
Mr. McCarthy’s ambush-by-elbow was the only alleged incident that became physical.
Although Mr. McCarthy denied he dealt the blow, Mr. Burchett said after he confronted the former speaker, “It’s like, you know, a guy throws a rock over a fence when he’s a kid and runs home and hides behind his mama’s skirt. You know, he’s got the security detail around him, and so nobody’s going to be able to do anything to him.”
Mr. Burchett told NPR after walking away from Mr. McCarthy that the incident was the first time the two had spoken since the lawmaker from Tennessee joined Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, and others to oust him as speaker.
Mr. Gaetz filed a formal complaint with the House Ethics Committee saying the incident deserved “immediate and swift investigation.”
“This Congress has seen a substantial increase in breaches of decorum unlike anything we have seen since the pre-Civil War era,” the Florida Republican wrote in a letter. “I myself have been a victim of outrageous conduct on the House floor as well, but nothing like an open and public assault on a member, committed by another member. The rot starts at the top.”
Mr. Gaetz said the altercation was “wild.”
“McCarthy resorting to pushing people in the halls,” Mr. Gaetz said on X. “What a weak, pathetic husk of a man.”
Across the Capitol, Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma and a union leader nearly got into a brawl during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, prompting the intervention of Chairman Bernard Sanders as the hearing descended into schoolyard taunts and chaos.
“Sit down, sit down! you’re a United States senator!” Mr. Sanders, Vermont independent, shouted as Mr. Mullin stood up at the dais to confront the union leader.
The fiery and unusual exchange occurred after Mr. Mullin, a Republican, took exception to a series of tweets by Sean M. O’Brien, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, that challenged the senator to settle their differences at “any place, any time, cowboy.”
The pair verbally sparred at a prior hearing over whether Mr. Mullin had built his company himself.
“You want to run your mouth. We can be two consenting adults; we can finish it here,” Mr. Mullin said.
“OK, that’s fine, perfect,” Mr. O’Brien said.
“You want to do it now?” Mr. Mullin asked.
“I’d love to do it right now,” Mr. O’Brien replied.
“Stand your butt up then,” Mr. Mullin said.
“You stand your butt up,” Mr. O’Brien said.
The senator did stand and appeared to move to take off his wedding ring, prompting an outcry from the chamber and rebuke by Mr. Sanders.
The chairman had to talk them down as the pair continued to bicker during a dressing-down by Mr. Sanders.
“Hold on, stop it,” Mr. Sanders said. “Sit down.”
The hearing was intended to show how labor unions are improving the lives of the American people.
“This is a hearing,” Mr. Sanders said. “And God knows the American people have enough contempt for Congress.”
Mr. Mullin called Mr. O’Brien a “thug,” prompting another back-and-forth about the politeness of pointing at each other. Mr. O’Brien said he wanted to have coffee with the senator, not fight him.
“We’re not here to talk about fights or anything else,” Mr. Sanders said.
Had the encounter escalated into actual fisticuffs, it might have become ugly. Mr. Mullin is a former professional mixed martial arts fighter.
At a House oversight hearing, Chairman James Comer said “financially illiterate” Democrats were spreading a fake news story about his finances to try to discredit his investigation into President Biden’s family financial dealings.
“You look like a Smurf here, just going around in all this stuff,” Mr. Comer told Rep. Jared Moskowitz after the Florida Democrat compared Mr. Comer’s land dealings to allegations that Mr. Biden’s family used his “brand” to enrich themselves with payments from foreign companies.
The hearing was supposed to look at wasteful government property holdings. Mr. Moskowitz said the hearing wasn’t what was on his constituents’ minds.
Then he went after Mr. Comer. He pointed to a Daily Beast article last week that said the Kentucky Republican used a shell company to swap land and channel $200,000 to his brother. Mr. Comer is investigating a $200,000 check that James Biden wrote to his brother several years ago when Mr. Biden was not in office.
Mr. Comer said Democrats who are repeating claims in the article are “dumb, financially illiterate people.”
He said what happened was his father died, leaving some land. Mr. Comer’s brother didn’t have money to maintain it, so Mr. Comer bought the land, which accounted for the payment Democrats have questioned.
“They’re so financially illiterate that you think that because something says LLC it’s a shell company,” Mr. Comer said. “This company, which I financially disclose, has properties, OK? It manages over 1,000 acres of land for hunting purposes. it owns different properties. I’m one of the largest landowners in my home area, OK? I went to the bank, and I borrowed money, and I bought that land. I didn’t get wires from Romania, China. My family doesn’t get wires.”
Mr. Comer then called Rep. Daniel Goldman, a New York Democrat who has joined Mr. Moskowitz in the criticism, “Mr. Trust Fund.”
Mr. Moskowitz got defensive. He first tried to shut down Mr. Comer, saying the exchange was coming out of his own time for questions. When Mr. Comer stopped the clock to continue the fight, Mr. Moskowitz said he was just raising questions.
“Why should they believe what you’re saying?” the Democrat demanded. “We don’t know if that’s what you’re doing or not. We don’t know.”
“You’ve already been proven a liar, Mr. Moskowitz,” Mr. Comer retorted.
“Your word means nothing,” Mr. Moskowitz replied. “This seems to have gotten under your skin. I think the American people have lots of questions, Mr. Chairman. Perhaps you should sit for a deposition.”
Mr. Comer said he would pay for a ticket for Mr. Moskowitz to go to Kentucky and conduct an investigation.
He also offered to sit down with James Biden and Hunter Biden, the president’s son, and “we can go over our LLCs.”
“Let’s do that,” Mr. Comer said.
• Mallory Wilson contributed to this report.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.