McCarthy Addresses Israel-Hamas War and House Speakership Race Transcript

… expect there to be a vote this week?

I expect there to be a vote, and elect a new Speaker this week. I asked them in there… I know a lot of them want to nominate me. I told them, “Please do not nominate me.” We said a prayer for Israel. As you know, every year, I would lead the new members to Israel. We do it on a bipartisan basis. On our last trip, we went down to visit the border along Gaza, see the Iron Dome. And we went and toured a kibbutz. That is the exact same one that you found the atrocities today of young babies being murdered, being decapitated.

(00:36)
The talk today is, we have a job in there, but more importantly, we have a job to do something right now. There’s a crisis in the world. There’s a void of leadership. We need to stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel. We need to make sure Hamas is destroyed. We need to make sure the resources that go to terrorists from Iran is stopped. The sanctions are already there.

(01:04)
I laid out a five-point plan yesterday. The President right now should be very clear to the rest of the world that the American hostages have to come home now, that we will not accept anything that goes against these hostages, and we will have vengeance if they do one thing to them.

(01:26)
The other thing, we need to resupply Israel with the ammunition they need. We need to impose the sanctions that are already there. When President Biden took office, Iran was only able to produce 400,000 barrels a day. Now, they’re at three million. They are getting billions upon billions of dollars that they are spreading to terrorism around the world. He needs to stop the appeasement.

(01:54)
He needs to redirect his administration that the number one greatest challenge and threat to America is not climate change, it’s the threat of terrorism on our southern border. Climate change is important and we can deal with it, but that border is wide open, where we have more than 151 people so far on the FBI terrorist watch list that we have caught coming across. In 2019, we had zero. He needs to reverse his policies to make America safe and make the world a better place.

Who do you endorse for Speaker?

I haven’t endorsed anyone. I let the conference decide.

Are you running for Speaker?

(02:31)
What are the rules under which this is going to happen?

You came late. I already told them not to nominate me.

What are the rules under which all this is going to play out?

The same rules we’ve always had. Listen, what transpires tonight is, there will be a debate between two members. I think two will be nominated. I don’t know if anybody else will be nominated there. They will lay out their plan to unite this conference. It’s more than selecting a Speaker. If this conference continues to allow 4% of the conference to partner with Democrats, when 96% of the Republicans want something else, they will never lead.

(03:12)
The things that we’ve been able to accomplish from the Parents’ Bill of Rights, from the greatest most conservative border security that we’ve ever been able to pass. We make America energy independent. To have the greatest cuts in spending this Congress has ever voted for, more than 2 trillion, to make work requirements then.

(03:32)
And I want to thank for one moment. For those who disagreed with me, to think for one moment that eight of them would join with all the Democrats because I kept the government open, I want you to all think of one thing. Where would we be in the world right now if we were not paying our troops, and Israel is at war, and people question what’s happening in American government? That is the challenge and that’s why I think [inaudible 00:03:59].

[inaudible 00:04:01].

Sorry. One at a time. One at a time. What?

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, well, do you think that Republicans will have a change to the one member motion to vacate the chair, or do you think that’s off the table for the time being?

I don’t know. They can decide if that-

Who is your vote for tomorrow?

(04:14)
Mr. Speaker, do you think there should be a change of 217 votes to get out of conference? That’s when we need support.

Look, the one thing I see is, we went 15 rounds on the floor. I think where the world is today, they shouldn’t come out of there until they decide that they have enough votes for whoever they bring to the floor can become Speaker.

Who are you going vote for tomorrow?

(04:30)
Who are you going to vote for?

(04:31)
How do you avoid what happened to you by putting a spending bill on the floor from happening to the next Speaker? How do you think they’re going to have-

Well, first of all I would do it again. I think it’s important whoever takes that job is willing to risk the job for doing what’s right for the American public. Think for one moment, if we were sitting here sending the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier and strike team into the Middle East when they didn’t even know if they were going to get paid, how could we even do that? If the troops were not being paid, we wouldn’t be able to go forward. So exactly what I would do, I would do again. So whoever takes the job, I want them to make this commitment to the American people. They’re going to do what’s right even if it risks their job to do it.

Does that mean [inaudible 00:05:17].

I’m sorry.

What do you feel about the consensus? Do you feel like you guys are getting close to a decision here? Or do you think it will take a day or two, or more?

Look, I think those who are running are going to have to unite people. They have to show out a clear plan and I think it’s good for members in there to talk about it, be honest with one another, but I do believe they should make that decision in there before we go back to the floor, especially in this situation we are in the world right now.

(05:42)
Look, after 9/11, we changed the course that if the Speaker was ever deposed, that you could put a Speaker pro temp in that Speaker pro temp should be able to do the job until someone new is elected. You want the continuity of government. There should be no question. Patrick McHenry should be able to bang us in, bang the gavel in, move legislation while we pick a decision who’s Speaker. It was the whole concept after 9/11 for a continuity of government if you didn’t have a Speaker. That’s why we created that. That’s why I named him, and he should be able to do the job. I don’t think people should question that.

Who are you going to vote for tomorrow?

(06:17)
Since you’re saying that you’ll not ask anyone to nominate you, does that mean that you are ruling out any possibility of being a candidate?

You guys do so many hypotheticals. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you. There’s two people running in there. I’m not one of them, and they’re going to be able to decide who the next Speaker is.

Why are you not running? Why are you not running

For the same reason I wasn’t running last time.

Does that mean you’re not listening to the speeches in there?

No, I’m listening to you.

So who are you going to vote for tomorrow if it comes to the floor? For Speaker?

If it comes to the floor, whoever comes out of there.

What message does it send to the international community that there is a fight over the Speaker in the middle of a crisis in the Middle East?

Well look, we have continuity of government here. I think it says more that it takes the President too long to come out and talk. I think it’ll say more if the President doesn’t reverse the course on what he’s doing in the southern border. I think it’ll say more to the world if the President isn’t very clear about bringing those Americans home, that this has to be different than what he did in Afghanistan, that we will not leave one American behind.

(07:16)
And the other thing we have to stand very clear is that we’re going to stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel until Hamas is defeated. It’s not about Hamas being weakened. Hamas must be destroyed for the atrocities that they have done. And we need to go directly to what Iran has funded. We should enforce the sanctions that are already in place so Iran doesn’t continue to make billions of dollars and fund terrorism around the world.

(07:41)
And we should reassess our own intelligence here. Why did we miss this? Our intelligence knew Russia was going to invade Ukraine, and they told the world. This is one of the greatest atrocities since the Holocaust. Americans have died. Every day, the number increases. The number of those in Israel have died, if you equated it to America’s population would be more than 30,000 people. There should be no doubt of our will and our ability to stay with Israel.

Would you support a foreign aid package?

You’ve already asked questions.

Mr. McCarthy?

Yes.

What do you think of potentially tearing the Ukraine aid with Israel aid in a supplemental?

Look, I don’t… To me, when you ask that question, you’re thinking some type of game to play. I think right now Israel is just attacked. I would put Israel’s supplemental on the table on the floor right now. If I was still Speaker, I would’ve laid out the five plans, and we’d be voting today, and there would be no doubt in the world where we stand, and there’d be no question.

(08:44)
You see, my very first trip as Speaker internationally was to Israel. I spoke at their Congress, their Knesset on the anniversary… of the 75th anniversary of the creation of their country. I was the only second Speaker ever to be invited to do that. And one thing I’ve learned as I’ve gone through Israel, there’s no greater ally than we have in Israel.

(09:05)
When you look at the Iron Dome, I’ve been to the Iron Domes many times. What Hamas is trying to do is overwhelm. An Iron Dome will categorize where a rocket is going to go, determine whether to shoot it up and knock it down. But they only have so many batteries in there to protect. When you send 5,000, you’re trying to wear out an Iron Dome. You’re trying to overrun it. And I imagine these first rockets are probably going to be dumb rockets. They’re saving the precision long range ones for later, wondering if Israel has the capability in the Iron Dome to knock it down. We should have that on the floor today that nobody questions that, they will be able to defend themselves. Yes.

Mr. Speaker?

Yes.

Today is Ashli Babbitt’s 38th birthday. National Files viewers are interested in whether or not you-

You know what? You know what? We’ve been putting out the J6, but that’s another day, another question.

Well, no.

No, no, no. No, no.

We’re interested in-

Look it, you can ask whatever question you want-

… the release of the J6 prisoners and the 41,000 hours of videos. You promised to release [inaudible 00:10:05].

That’s a nice question, and I’m focused, and we did. Yes.

You didn’t do that, sir.

Yes I did, sir.

41,000 hours?

(10:11)
These candidates should think to hash out the Continuing Resolution issue before they choose a Speaker?

I’m sorry, what?

Do you think these candidates are going to have to hash out what they’re going to do with the Continuing Resolution, the November 17th deadline before they get a support-

Look, the challenge here is, we have a small group of members in our conference that partnered all with Democrats. This small group also stopped us from ever bringing individual bills to the floor, then argued why didn’t we bring them to the floor. They literally shut down the entire floor one week of bringing anything up. They then went when we wanted a Continuing Resolution that would secure the border but also be one of the greatest cuts, they knocked that down too. So I’m not quite sure what they want. So inside there, they better decide which way they want to go.

What weapons and munitions has Israel asked you for and what should the Congress supply?

The Congress should supply whatever they need. Very clearly, whatever they need. Yes, ma’am.

To be clear, if a member nominates you in there voting the next time-

I asked-

… what would you say to them if they want to vote for you tomorrow?

I asked the members in there not to nominate me.

Speaker McCarthy-

(11:18)
… confident that they can come to a consensus to vote on a Speaker to tomorrow or this week?

Yes.

Mr. McCarthy, what’s your advice… Looking forward to the governing deadlines ahead, what’s your advice to your successor on how to navigate this small majority and deal with the Democratic Senate?

Do what is right. My real concern here is, I felt as though we’re in a much stronger position to be able to secure this border. I felt as though we passed HR2, we had a very strong position. Unfortunately, we had a few members in our conference that are not true conservatives, they don’t want to govern that made us in a weaker position. I believe what’s going on in the world today, whatever we move forward should actually secure this border to keep this country safe.

[inaudible 00:11:59].

(11:58)
Just to be clear, Mr. McCarthy, your advice is that they should do what is right, regardless of what it means for the Speakership?

That’s exactly what I did. I’m very proud of that fact. I thank America’s stronger for it. I mean, did we have to be able to roll the Senate and even the Democrats got upset by it, and somehow they all decided to vote against along with eight Republicans, join all the Democrats. I’d do it again tomorrow.

(12:24)
I think it’s more important, especially where we live in the world today, that we pay our troops. This world is unsafe. But if they wanted to not pay our troops and be sitting here in a government shutdown, when the world, what’s going on? I think that is wrong. Thank you all very much. Have a good night.