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McCarthy drops the F-bomb: Speaker issues profane dare to his GOP caucus after impeachment rebellion

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy bucks up after his GOP colleagues threaten to give him the boot: report

Staff Reporter

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Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announces he is directing the House to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, in the U.S. Capitol. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announces he is directing the House to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, in the U.S. Capitol. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy issued a profane challenge to those Republican members of the House of Representatives threatening to oust him from the speakership during a closed party conference Thursday morning. While the private House GOP meeting was supposed to cover the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, the California Republican had government funding — and frustrations with his colleagues — freshly on his mind. 

"Yeah, I don't understand how members, they have no complaint about the DoD bill. But they don't want to pass it. I got a small group of members who don't want to vote for CR, don't want to vote for individual bills and don't want to vote for an Omni," McCarthy told Punchbowl News when asked about federal funding on the way in, referring to the Department of Defense, a continuing resolution and an omnibus spending bill, respectively. "I'm not quite sure what they want."

The subject of the meeting seemed to take a sharp turn as the California Republican took aim at his critics and asserted that he is not afraid of them forcing a vote to have him removed. 

"Go ahead. I'm not f—king scared of it. Any new speaker will do what I'm doing," one of those legislators told Politico of what they recalled the Speaker saying. "If you think you scare me because you want to file a motion to vacate, move the f—ing motion," McCarthy may have actually told his opponents, according to two other anonymous Republican lawmakers interviewed by the outlet.  

By Tatyana Tandanpolie

Tatyana Tandanpolie is a staff reporter at Salon. Born and raised in central Ohio, she moved to New York City in 2018 to pursue degrees in Journalism and Africana Studies at New York University. She is currently based in her home state and has previously written for local Columbus publications, including Columbus Monthly, CityScene Magazine and The Columbus Dispatch.


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