Newt Gingrich: Kevin McCarthy opponents running the risk of ‘signing their own resignation letters’
Jack Birle
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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich warned Republicans who are blocking Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from becoming the next Speaker are running the risk of “signing their own resignation letters.”
Gingrich labeled the 20 House Republicans who voted for other candidates as “blackmailers” and asserted they would not be rewarded for holding up the Speaker election.
FOUR REASONS THE NEW REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED HOUSE IS ALREADY IN DISARRAY
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“These 20 people making Republicans look like idiots. There’s not going to be a big premium back home to go home and say proudly ‘yes I’m a blackmailing idiot, please reelect me,'” Gringrich said on Fox News Channel’s Fox and Friends Wednesday. “If they don’t find a way to get to a solution today, I think they are running a real risk of being repudiated at the polls and they’re basically signing their resignation letters.”
Gingrich asserted that the members were blackmailing the Republican conference and the American people by holding up the GOP from getting to work in the lower chamber of Congress.
“I think they believe — remember, they are not really blackmailing McCarthy — they’re blackmailing the conference. On the votes yesterday, they were losing 202 to 20. And in a healthy, free society, you figure 202 to 20 vote tells you something. But this 20 has gotten together and decided they cannot only blackmail the Republican conference, in fact they are blackmailing the American people. Remember, we didn’t get the vote yesterday to repeal the 87,000 IRS agents.”
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McCarthy failed to get the necessary 218 votes for House Speaker in three ballots Tuesday, leading to the House being adjourned until noon on Wednesday. In the first two votes, 19 Republicans voted against McCarthy and in the third ballot, 20 GOP members voted against him.