WASHINGTON — Tension flared on Capitol Hill Tuesday when a scuffle nearly broke out during a Senate hearing and a Republican congressman accused former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of assaulting him.
At a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, an argument between GOP Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma and Teamsters Union President Sean O’Brien nearly turned into a scuffle.
This exchange happened when former MMA fighter Mullin recalled a interaction He met O’Brien, now known as X, on Twitter in June.
At the time, he discussed joining an MMA fight for charity after a heated exchange at a previous congressional hearing.
mullin read aloud O’Brien’s original tweet At Tuesday’s hearing: “The greedy CEO who pretends like he’s self-made. In reality, he’s just a clown and a fraud. Always has been, always will be. Stop acting like the tough guy in these Senate hearings . You know where to find me. Anywhere, anytime Cowboy.”
The tweet also said “#LittleManSyndrome” and showed a photo of Mullin at a debate where he stood on a pedestal on a stage.
Mullin then said at the hearing: “Sir, this is a time; this is a place. You want to run your mouth? We can be two consenting adults. We can end it right here.”
“Okay, that’s fine, perfect,” O’Brien said.
“You want to do it now?” Mullin replied.
“I would love to do it right now,” O’Brien said.
Mullin said, “Then stand with your buttocks up.”
“You get your butt up,” O’Brien said.
Mullin then stood up and the committee chairman, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., stopped the altercation, yelling at Mullin: “Stop it! No, no, sit! You know, you’re a United States senator.”
The entire episode developed into a situation where Mullin and O’Brien were calling each other names that are not usually heard in committee hearings, but they did not see eye to eye. The two appeared to conclude their exchange by agreeing to have coffee together.
On the other side of the Capitol, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who last month voted to oust McCarthy, R-Calif., as speaker, said McCarthy was holding his kidney while Burchett was speaking to reporters. I was elbowed. A hallway.
Burchett said he believed it was intentional, telling reporters: “Oh, it was 100% intentional, ma’am, what are the chances… 435 members of Congress, eight of us, Voted against. I’m one of the ones who did it, one of the ones who did it. He called me out publicly.”
Burchett said he followed McCarthy to confront him and that the former speaker had no idea what Burchett was talking about.
McCarthy denied that he had attacked Burchett, telling reporters, “If I had punched him in the kidneys, he would have been on the ground.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who led the effort to oust McCarthy, filed a complaint about the incident with the House Ethics Committee. Gaetz did not witness the incident himself, but anyone can file a complaint. Asked about the ethics complaint, McCarthy said, “I think Gaetz is in a good place to be on ethics.”
Spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Both events were reacted on, “Today is another example of why Congress should not be in session for 5 consecutive weeks. Strange things happen.”
McConnell told reporters that he had not heard of the incidents, but added that “It is very difficult to control the behavior of everybody in the building. I don’t see it as my responsibility. This is something that would have to happen at the Capitol.” The police will have to deal.” ,
