Michael McCaul Speaks With The Press After GOP Meeting On Selecting A Speaker

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Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) spoke about selecting a House speaker on Thursday.

Transcript

00:00 What was the need to have these side efforts?

00:02 I think it was to air grievances and have everybody talk,

00:06 and we've been doing that for a while.

00:08 I just made -- I know I was the first one to speak.

00:11 I just made the conference aware

00:13 that we're living in a dangerous world.

00:16 The world's on fire.

00:17 Our adversaries are watching what we do,

00:20 and quite frankly, they like it.

00:21 And Chairman Xi talks about how democracy doesn't work,

00:26 and we're proving him right, and we need to fill the chair.

00:29 With a speaker, every day that goes by, it gets more dangerous.

00:34 You know, I was on the phone with our friends from Israel.

00:36 They're going to need a supplemental,

00:38 an aid to replenish the Iron Dome,

00:41 but they can't do that if we don't have a speaker in the chair.

00:43 So I see a lot of threats out there,

00:45 but one of the biggest threats I see is in that room

00:48 because we can't unify as a conference

00:49 and put a speaker in the chair to govern.

00:51 I can't get my resolution of 416 co-sponsors condemning Israel --

00:56 I mean, condemning Hamas and supporting Israel

01:00 without a speaker in the chair.

01:02 I can't get that supplemental aid to Israel

01:05 without a speaker in the chair.

01:08 So it's very dangerous what we're doing,

01:10 and I just wanted them to know that.

01:11 You know, we're playing with fire.

01:15 -Do you -- -Can you give us a sense

01:17 of what the tangible conversation points

01:19 are in that room, not just grievances,

01:21 but, like, should Scalise drop out?

01:23 Is Jim Jordan still in contention?

01:24 Just some of the actual --

01:26 -I mean, there's talk about -- I mean,

01:30 they're airing these grievances, but at the end of the day,

01:33 we elected the speaker-designee, and, you know,

01:37 we may just have to bring it to the floor

01:39 and have another episode like we had with McCarthy.

01:42 I don't really know if he's going to get

01:45 the requisite votes right now.

01:47 -So what are you asking that happens today?

01:50 -I think they'll be in that room for quite some time.

01:53 -Do you think the momentum has been Scalise's favor,

01:55 or has it shifted toward Congressman Jordan?

01:58 -I mean, you know, Jim went to the mic

02:00 and reiterated his support for Steve Scalise.

02:04 So, you know, he's basically letting his supporters

02:07 get on over to Steve.

02:09 You know, I've been up here 20 years.

02:10 I've never seen anything like this.

02:12 First in history, we've never seen a vacate of the chair,

02:16 but usually when we vote on a speaker-designee,

02:19 it goes to the floor, and there's not an issue.

02:22 So I just was trying to make the point how dangerous this is

02:27 because we can't govern without a speaker,

02:30 and it runs in the face of democracy.

02:33 -One more question.

02:34 -Will the Israelis say when --

02:38 What is the timeline on which you're going to have to pass?

02:42 -I've been in touch with the administration.

02:44 I mean, we're talking weeks.

02:46 -Weeks. -Yeah.

02:47 And we can't drag this out any longer.

02:49 -Thanks, guys. Thank you.

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