House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy attempted Thursday night to clarify the contentious remarks he made on Tuesday’s “Hannity” about the Benghazi Select Committee.
McCarthy, who is assumed to be the frontrunner in the House Speaker race, told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier that
it was “never my intention” to say the select committee had anything to do with politics.
McCarthy, who fumbled through some of his responses to Baier, says he spoke with Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy and his Republican colleagues about the matter.
“I’ve talked to Trey and the colleagues. I’ve expressed what I’m telling you right,” he said. “But it was never my intention– this committee has nothing to do with politics. Think for one moment. Look at the work they have done. Look at the work that Trey has done. No one questions Trey’s integrity or this committee.”
Gowdy told Sean Hannity on Tuesday that Hillary Clinton’s falling poll numbers was a result of the Benghazi investigation launched by Republicans. His comments angered not only Democrats who called for outgoing House Speaker John Boehner to disband the committee, but also McCarthy’s fellow Republicans.
“Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right?” McCarthy told Hannity. “But we put together a Benghazi special committee. A select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s un-trustable. But no one would have known that any of that had happened had we not fought to make that happen.”
When asked if he apologized to Gowdy, he responded, “I talked to Trey and I told him I regret that this has ever taken place. It’s never my intention and Trey says, ‘I know it’s not your intention because you know it’s not political.’”
However, despite the controversy, the California Republican still believes he will garner 218 votes on the House floor next week to win the speaker’s election.
“This is not what you’re going do see as Speaker of the House. This is simply the fact that this committee was created for one sole purpose. That’s the work the committee has done. Never mind tension,” he explained.
Thursday night’s appearance on Fox was the first time McCarthy did any media since he made his remarks about the select committee on Tuesday. McCarthy admitted that his remarks were a setback for the committee, saying he did not want to “harm the Benghazi committee in any way.”
Fox News contributor Stephen Hayes was not impressed with McCarthy’s effort to clean up the mess he made.
“The original statement was stupid and I think the attempt he made to clean it up, he made the matter worse, Hayes said to Baier later in the program. “He didn’t have anything to say to you. He couldn’t defend what he had said. Trey Gowdy has gone out of his way to keep the Benghazi committee from being political and I think he has done a darn good job about it and with that one sound byte, Kevin McCarthy stepped on it in a big way that I think will cause other Republicans to take a second look at him.”
Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer agreed saying, “Gowdy has spent two years as a prosecutor — skilled and very honest being absolutely scrupulous in the way he has conducted this hearing and McCarthy demolished that in 30 seconds. I’m not sure he has undone the damage.”