Rep. Tim Burchett accused former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy of elbowing him in the kidneys intentionally in retaliation for the Tennessee Republican's vote last month to oust McCarthy, sparking a conflict on an already tumultuous day at the Capitol.
Burchett was talking to NPR reporter Claudia Grisales on Tuesday morning when he says he “got elbowed in the back and it kind of caught me off guard because it was a clean shot to the kidneys.”
“I turned back and there was Kevin,” Burchett told CNN. “I chased after him of course. He’s a, as I stated many times, he’s a bully with $17 million and a security detail. He’s the type of guy that when you’re a kid would throw a rock over the fence and run home and hide behind his mama’s skirt.”
Burchett and Grisales said McCarthy denied it at the time and he later denied elbowing Burchett to other members of the press. He said there was no bad blood over the vote to remove him from the speakership.
“I didn’t even know what he was talking about,” McCarthy told CNN. “I did not run and hit the guy. I did not kidney punch him.”
“If I hit someone, they would know about it,” he added, mocking Burchett for claiming he was in pain.
In audio released by NPR, Burchett can be heard saying "Why'd you elbow me in the back, Kevin? Hey Kevin, you got any guts?” McCarthy can be heard denying the claim and laughing.
“What a jerk. You need security Kevin,” Burchett says.
McCarthy conceded he may have bumped into Burchett, but the NPR reporter backed up Burchett’s account.
“While talking to [Burchett] after the GOP conference meeting, [McCarthy] walked by with his detail and McCarthy shoved Burchett. Burchett lunged towards me,” Grisales wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “I thought it was a joke, it was not. And a chase ensued.”
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Burchett brushed off McCarthy's explanation, saying that it shows "exactly why he doesn't need to be speaker."
"You know, it's just a sad asterisk on a career that'll always be 'wasn't he the guy that did that?' Yeah, he is that guy," Burchett said. "I will tell you this: In Tennessee, if somebody has a problem with you, they come to you and look you in the eye, not come up behind you."
Burchett’s ally Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who led the far-right charge to remove McCarthy, filed an ethics complaint against the former speaker alleging he “assaulted” Burchett and called for a “immediate and swift investigation.”
But Burchett, while appreciative, found an ethics charge unnecessary.
"I appreciate Matt having my back, but that's not a direction I was going in. I'm not looking for an ethics violation," Burchett said. "Kevin's acting 12 years old, and it's just what it is."
Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger wrote on X that McCarthy got physical with him twice during his time in Congress. Kinzinger left office earlier this year. In his memoir, “Renegade,” Kinzinger wrote McCarthy “hit him with his shoulder” on two different occasions.
“I don’t know about Kinzinger,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy remained in Congress after he became the first speaker to be removed in U.S. history in October. Gaetz and Burchett voted with six other Republicans and all Democrats present to remove McCarthy over their anger at his stopgap funding deal with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown.
On Tuesday, new Speaker Mike Johnson is attempting to secure another short term deal to keep the government open into early next year. Johnson declined to comment on the incident, according to CNN.
The alleged Burchett and McCarthy altercation was not the only intense moment on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. In a Senate hearing on labor unions, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., threatened to fight Teamsters President Sean O’Brien.