House Speaker Kevin McCarthy weighed in on the terse exchange that occurred between Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney and Republican New York Rep. George Santos before the State of the Union on Tuesday.
The two GOP Congressmen had a battle of words prior to President Joe Biden’s speech, with Romney reportedly expressing to Santos that he should not be in Congress given the slew of investigations surrounding him. He reportedly further urged that he hoped the representative would be removed.
When confronted by CNN’s Manu Raju about Romney’s “disappointment” that Santos had not resigned, McCarthy reportedly told Raju, “Romney should be disappointed that Swalwell hasn’t resigned.”
Asked McCarthy about Romney saying he was disappointed that the speaker hasn’t called on Santos to resign. “Romney should be disappointed that Swalwell hasn’t resigned,” McCarthy said pic.twitter.com/Gp5U81efHD
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 8, 2023
McCarthy’s dig at California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell isn’t the first time he stacked the latter against Santos. Speaking to reporters in January, McCarthy slammed the media for giving Swalwell a pass for his alleged former connection with Chinese spy Christine Fang. (RELATED: Reporter Gets Into Tense Exchange With McCarthy After Speaker Removed Schiff From Intel Committee)
“You asked me questions about [George] Santos. Have you asked the questions about Swalwell? Not only was he getting a clearance, he was inside an intel committee. He had more information than the majority of all the members. Did you ever raise that issue? No, but you should’ve,” McCarthy told the reporter at the time.
Under Nancy Pelosi’s leadership, Swalwell was permitted to remain on the House Intelligence Committee despite Fang’s reported ties to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Ministry of State Security. Though Swalwell continues to deny any wrongdoing, McCarthy had him removed from the committee stating the situation “jeopardized” national security.
“If you got the briefing I got from the FBI, you wouldn’t have Swalwell on any committee. And you’re gonna tell me other Democrats couldn’t fill that slot? He cannot get a security clearance in the private sector, so would you like to give him a government clearance?” McCarthy told reporters in January.