Refinitiv Newscasts - McCarthy holds newser after being ousted as House Speaker 1

Crew Energy

04/10/2023 03:01

Click the following link to watch video: https://share.newscasts.refinitiv.com/link?entryId=1_jpp09vd4&referenceId=1_jpp09vd4&pageId=Newscasts
Source: Reuters

Description: Representative Kevin McCarthy holds a news conference after he
was ousted as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Short Link: https://refini.tv/46fxG2G

Video Transcript:

>> And she said just give it to them. I'll always back you up. I made the same
offer to Boehner, and same thing to Paul, because I believe in the
institution. I think today was a political decision by the Democrats. I think
the things they have done in the past hurt the institution. They just started
removing people from committee, they just started doing the other things. Fear
is the institution fell today because you can't do the job eight people if you
have 96% of your entire conference, but eight people can partner with the
whole other side. How do you govern? For them to make a motion on me because I
made a decision for the country that they agreed with, but they choose to do
the other, that becomes a problem. Yes, sir. >> Are you planning on endorsing
a successor? >> I might, I don't know who's running that. I'll talk to people.
>> And when you look back, is there anything you could have done differently
to those eight members? >> A lot of them I helped get elected so I probably
should have picked somebody else. >> Two hundred local [inaudible 00:01:27] >>
I love these 200, they've gone through so much they're down in the conference,
they'll say they're going to keep vote for me. I think you should put the
country first. This job was never about me. I hope you felt that. That I
always felt what can we do best to move forward. I treated Hakim the way I
wanted to be treated. I'd tell him things we're doing throughout so he never
was questioned. I wanted to bring the body back differently. We created a
select committee on China. I changed the intel committee. They just came back
from MIT where they all had bipartisan briefing on AI and Quantum. Started
doing briefings with AI the whole conference of Republicans and Democrats
alike. We're far from solving that problem, but I'm proud of what we were able
to do there so we'll continue. Yes, sir. >> [inaudible 00:02:44] >> Not all
those eight, but these are the same people that never voted for me. They
thought it was big they went to present after we went through 15 rounds. Why
do I do something for myself that can hurt the country? Why create? I'm not
quite sure those individuals are looking to be productive. It concerns me as a
republican, based upon watching what they do. I want to be a republican and a
conservative that governs, and we're going to have to find a way to do that.
The challenge is we had so many opportunities. These are the same people that
sat on the floor and criticized me that we didn't get all 12 spending bills
done, but we first had to do a debt ceiling that they didn't support. They
held up every appropriation bill in the summer because they wouldn't let it
come through after the debt ceiling. They stopped us from doing anything on
the floor when we had a continuing resolution that would do something on the
border. I listened to one talk about how it made him think about the border
and when he voted against it. And then they wanted to challenge me because I
worked with the other side. So America could go forward and government could
stay open. If you have to lose for something, I will always lose for the
country. It is a much better battle to have. >> [inaudible 00:04:17]. >>
Change the rules. Do you think I let it? For the whole point, I mean, if you
talk about like a gates, the gates came to the whole conference, said we will
never use this. This is a man that sat there on the 14th vote and said, I'm
going to vote for you next time, it falls back and not so it's just the
trustworthiness of a lot of individuals. It makes it difficult. But I do not
think, regardless of who the speaker is, that you should have that rule.
Everybody had it but Pelosi, but it was never used and still started getting
used against Boehner. If you can always count on the other party to vote in
the block against it, then you're allowing four to five people to control
whatever so it doesn't matter even if you have 96% so that is not a government
that works that is chaotic. Go right ahead. >> [inaudible 00:05:29] >> I don't
think it says about the Republican party, I think it says something about some
people who are not a conservative. If you were a conservative and you only had
one entity making the battle, and you vote against securing the border, you
vote against cutting the wasteful spending, and then you partner with all the
Democrats. Now you'll phrase it all the other different ways. That's not a
Conservative. Look, you all know Matt Gates, It was personal it had nothing to
do about spending, it had nothing to do about everything he accused somebody
of, he was doing. It all was about getting attention from you. We're getting
email fund raisers from him as he's doing it, join in quickly. That's not
governing, that's not becoming of a member of congress and regardless of what
you think. I've seen the text, it was all about his ethics, but that's all
right. >> From the first question for resigning? >> I said he asked about
that. I haven't thought about that. >> And it just over the institution. >>
No. I'm not going to blame anybody. There's not blame anywhere. Look, I give
it as good as I get it. So you know the challenge. I knew going in, you would
take a poll all the time. Is he going to get thrown out this week? But you
know what, if I lose my job overdoing what I truly believe, what's right, I'm
very at peace with it. You asked earlier like when did I decide? I knew they
would make the motion on me. It didn't make one bit of difference. I felt very
comfortable in that decision, and I think the American public believed that
decision was right. >> [inaudible 00:07:27] >> That's the conferences
decision? >> [inaudible 00:07:42] >> No, there's a lot of great people in
conference. There's always other people to do jobs. It is amazing, the talent
that we had and the one thing I've always hoped as speaker, that we lifted
more of that talent up. I look at people doing a lot of different jobs in the
different opportunities we did and they're doing an exceptional job. We have
so much talent, it is remarkable. Yes. >> [inaudible 00:08:23] >> I made
history didn't I? >> [inaudible 00:08:24] >> Well would any of you think if it
took that long and you had one person you knew it was always a possibility. So
that was fine, didn't bother me, didn't change any of my decision I made. But
it was interesting. I read a tweet the other day of Matt Rosendale. He goes to
mass every day. But you know what he said his prayer was all last year? That
Republicans didn't have a big victory, that they had a narrow victory. When
you have members like that, that are part of your team, you got a tough team.
Look, when I was in business, I got to hire and fire who worked with me.
Somebody else hires them somebody else fires them. My job was to inspire them.
I think we did some good work and I think we'll continue to do great work.
Yes, sir. >> [inaudible 00:09:34] >> We're not that young anymore. >>
[inaudible 00:09:42] >> Now let's be fair and it's wrong that you ever say.
They are not conservatives. They voted against one, the greatest cut in
history that Congress has ever voted for two trillion, they voted against work
requirements, they voted against NEPA reform, they voted against border
security, they don't get to say they're conservative because they're angry and
they're chaotic. That's not the party I belong to. The party of Reagan was if
you believed in your principles that you could govern in a conservative way,
they are not conservatives and they do not have the right to have the title.
Yes. >> [inaudible 00:10:27] >> Why do you say that? Because your question
doesn't hold true to history. When Donald Trump was president, we did tax
reform. You can look at all of our different successes. So you may dislike the
policy, but we've been very successful. You watched the Abraham Accords? You
can go victory after victory. The price of gas, we were energy independent at
the time. We had more businesses growing at the time. We didn't have to
evacuate our embassies. It's easy on its merit to see the difference of what
Biden has destroyed America to what the policies we were able to create. Yes,
sir. >> Can I ask you, what about the conversation [inaudible 00:11:17]? >>
No, we didn't ask for anything. >> You didn't ask for anything at all?
[inaudible 00:11:21] >> No. And I have a lot of respect for Hackney. He wants
to win the majority. I heard what they said in conference. Why would they vote
for me if I've won every time as leader. I raised 70% of all the money. It's
an opportunity for. The real question to the eight, why would you enable and
allow the Democrats to do it? That's the question. Yes. >> Do you regret
making concession to those [inaudible 00:11:57]? >> What concessions did I
make? >> You could win to identify [inaudible 00:12:03]. >> To what? >>
[inaudible 00:12:07] >> No, I'm a Republican. I win by Republicans and I lose
by Republicans. It's not that way. I believe you should work across the aisle.
I worked across the aisle at times. Do I want to make the bill the most
conservative possible? Yes. That's the goal. It's difficult when you can't get
218 for the conservative bill. And then they want to challenge you when you
went and solved and kept the government open. Yes, sir. >> The last few months
you've got a firewall against the debt ceiling crisis, government shutting
down. >> We did pretty well, didn't we? >> How big of a risk do you think a
shut down this November without your speaker? >> Other people can do the job.
It's interesting I've never received so many texts from so many senators about
how big a play we just did the other day. Or how many congratulations about
the debt ceiling and the other. If I would go back to the days before the debt
ceiling, none of you even thought I'd get a meeting with the president. All of
you had asked me, is it going to fall off the cliff. The end of the day we
worked an agreement out. Some of those people got mad about it, but two
thirds, highest number of Republicans never voted for a debt ceiling when you
had and you only negotiated based upon the deal we went. That was the moment
they wanted to go after and that's what they continued to follow through. >>
Do you mind negotiating to be the part job. >> You should. Look, government's
designed that you have to have compromise. No, you can't get everything that
you want. You've got a house, you've got a Senate. But I had more to question.
>> [inaudible 00:13:49] by both Democrats and Republicans. Is that perhaps
been too transactional. >> In which way? >> On about keeping your word. >> In
which word did I not keep? Name one thing I did not keep. >> Gates says that
there's so many [inaudible 00:14:11]. >> No, tell me. What did Gates say? What
did I not keep in Gates mind? Because Gates had never been a part of the
discussion. Just because Gates said something, don't believe it's true. I
haven't heard him say one true thing yet. >> [inaudible 00:14:25]. >> On what?
>> [inaudible 00:14:26]. >> That is not true. So, no. If you're going to ask
the question, you're going to say it. Tell me how I did something different on
the debt ceiling bill. Any of you? Tell me what I did different on the debt
ceiling that I didn't keep my word? >> You said it as a four, you said it's a
ceiling. >> Is it not a ceiling? No. When you agree to spending levels, that's
the maximum amount you can spend. This is what is wrong with Washington.
Because it's the height that you can spend, you can also spend less. We're a
different body. So does any of you believe then the Senate broke their word on
the debt ceiling? Because they spent more than the limit. But somehow I'm
wrong, because I want to save the taxpayers more money? We're our own body. I
have two children. If I give them each $100 for dinner and one spends 100 and
one spends 80, am I going to yell at the one who spent 80 and said, my God,
you got to spend it all? It's not our money. And why am I getting criticized
because I'm fighting for the American people that we can eliminate waste. And
you know what, we're our own body. So if we can pass the bills and the Senate
can pass the bills, but they pass them higher, but they haven't passed
anything , somehow I'm wrong? I kept my word. I did not spend over the limit.
They broke their word. >> You don't feel you're too transactional? >> How was
I transactional? If you ask a question, I want you to show an example. Give me
an example. >> That issue is basically disconnect. >> So what did I do this
for that? >> On the CR, you keep talking about digging in, digging out, an
then finally you put it down. >> No. You're making no sense. What
transactional did it? No, I did no transaction. I tried to pass a conservative
stopgap measure that secured the border and actually cut spending. When that
didn't go, the only bill that was going was sitting over in the Senate that
had a stopgap measure, disaster, and Ukraine. I made a decision as Speaker to
keep the government open and I put something on the floor. And let me get this
straight to all of you because someone said I did not, 72-hour rule, I'm the
only one who's lived by it. We're the ones who created it. We never broke the
72-hour rule. The bill I put on the floor was a suspension, which takes a two
thirds vote. And you know what? You can put a suspension on a rule and you can
waive it based upon the leadership. That's exactly what I followed. So my
question to you is, when somebody says something, don't take it that it's
gospel. Why don't you ask them to point. When Gates said I didn't follow that,
show me one place. You saw Thomas Massie, who is the hardest line person, say
we followed all the rules all the time. That he was in the room when the
agreement was made, and then we surpassed what we said we would do. So if you
ask me a question, I'm going to answer back because when it's not true, it's
not fair. >> How important is it that the Speaker of the House be a member of
the institution? Some members are floating [inaudible 00:17:43]. >> They
always float some of them. Yes. First of all, you got to be in the institution
to understand how it works. And it's legal to have somebody out, I just do not
think that would ever be good. Do I regret? You start with this question. I
don't think you've ever been positive on one yet, but come on. I have high
hope. This is going to be exciting. >> You're rubbing off on me. >> That's a
good thing. >> I just don't think you're out yet. But do you regret not
reaching out personally to people like Massie [inaudible 00:18:25]? >>
[inaudible 00:18:26] >> Let's get through this. I personally like Tim
Burchett, and I called Tim Burchett because I read his quote, and Tim Burchett
a friend of mine, which I'm shocked by this. And Tim Burchett in his quote
said, he's leaning towards now, he's on CNN, but I'm going to pray about it.
So I pick up the phone and call him because I didn't think he was already
there. I said, Tim, I read your quote. You said you're going to pray about it.
I wanted to talk to you about it and somehow he construes that. I'm a
Christian, I'm not going to offend somebody from I simply read his quote back.
I thought there was still an opening and I wanted to talk to him about it. He
never mentioned anything when we were communicating like that. And he said,
Nancy Mace is a whole another story. Let's just be honest here. This is the
one I just got a text from our primary opponent saying, why'd you spend 3
million. But I called Nancy Mace's, chief of staff yesterday. >> [inaudible
00:19:23] >> Because I called the chief of staff? >> [inaudible 00:19:26] >>
Well, she was on the view saying I didn't keep my word, so I didn't know what
to listen. I can't say this in the press, but okay. But no, you'll keep it
among yourselves. Way to my book. No. So I called her chief of staff because I
don't know, maybe I don't connect her with someone else. But I just said to
him. I said, "Can you please tell me I don't understand where have I not kept
my word?" You know what her chief of staff said? You have kept your word 100%.
Members come to me and one thing I don't like the idea that a member comes and
tries to leverage me. I don't go for that. I'll vote for the bill. You that's
not well, but if you have a problem with the bill, I want to help you. But I
can't sit there and write your entire bill and work it all the way through
committee. We just got her one bill out and he came back the other bill doing
on guns. That just wasn't working. I do something else. We did something else
I just don't appreciate. Look, I bite my lip. I let people say things that are
not true but it's not right. It is not right. Her chief of staff told all of
us. We have kept every single one of our words and he said he's told her that
too. Now, somehow he gets fired, I'll still get him a job last. Well, I'm
being too honest now. >> [inaudible 00:20:52]. Do you regret [inaudible
00:20:53]? >> Oh my God, no. But do I regret the democrats playing games on
January 6? Yes, they played so many politics. What they did to this
institution and what they did to this building was so wrong. The idea that
they put magnetometers there. The idea that they would go to any republican
member that they had been co-sponsors or bills, and they no longer could be a
co-sponsor, that they would find members $5,000 if the magnetometers went on.
But when Nancy went around it, Clyburn were supposed to get to find it all got
waived. The idea that bills didn't have to go through committee, the idea is
they created a select committee on January 6, and they wouldn't let the
minority appoint who to do it. Look, I'm trying to change all that and bring
the body back to they can work together, but I think they did a lot of damage
to us. Yes, sir. >> [inaudible 00:21:56] >> Well, that's always been my goal.
I just talked to Mitch yesterday and I had called in to Schumer and I talked
to Hakim last night. What I was going to do is because we had taken five up,
we passed four of them. I was going to start individually pre-conferencing so
we can get this work done. I'm concerned with the timeline now. Look, I truly
believe at the end of the day we can get this all worked out. I do believe at
the end of the day, we could find common ground and do something about the
border. I don't know if this has caused a problem. Look, I was doing squawk
today and they had the other TV on MSNBC and the first time I saw MSNBC
running a whole story about the border with people just walking across.
Pritzker sent a letter yesterday about the immigration, Massachusetts
Governor, State of emergency, Connecticut. Everybody has become the number 1.
They cannot ignore it. And I had told my members all before, I heard Gates say
some on the floor that, oh my God, Kevin asked for a stopgap measure. When we
came back, the whole plan was because those eight and a few more had held up
passing any of these probes, bills all summer. I was going to do just what we
did Saturday, a stopgap measure with disaster. I had gone out to Hawaii. We
looked what happened in Florida. Those people shouldn't be held back, and we
could finish doing it all individually, but somehow they think that's a dirty
words. >> [inaudible 00:23:27]. Have you spoken [inaudible 00:23:28]? >> A
week a ago. >> My poor mom. Have you guys met my mom yet? My mom's Italian
lady and she called me the other day. She said, she gets worried. She reads
what you guys write. And she says, I'm so nervous. I said, why mom, it's all
right. She said last night she went in the house and she left her car running
in the garage all night long. And my mom only fills her car up once a week at
Costco on Wednesdays, then calls me because she still lives in California. The
price of gas is so high, she asked me what I'm going to do about it. But look,
I think this job is always harder on your loved ones than you yourself. So
they'll be okay. >> Did you make any [inaudible 00:24:18]. >> No. >>
Unequivocally? >> Unequivocally, no. Well, if you want to categorize this, let
me say because people think it's some big side. I did tell you when we were
doing the stopgap measure, there was a concern in there. Does it have
transferability on money? I believed and my staff believed it did. But what I
did say to the White House, if it does not, if you think some way it doesn't
do it the way I will fix that. I did say that and I did say I do it. Look, I
support arming Ukraine. That doesn't mean sending them cash, but arming
Ukraine. But I have been on the White House even before they sent this
supplemental. I said, you guys are doing it all wrong by just sending us a
supplemental. And I think the president is failing here because he's not
telling the American public what is the mission. Now we have a lot of members
who are navy seals, who've been in theater and F-18 pilots. And they're
frustrated. They want to support, but they don't want to support an ever
ending war. They want to see what's going on here. And I've really been on the
White House. You've got to come down and talk to about it, but you should
listen to them in the prospects. I'm really concerned though long term what's
happening around looks a lot like the 1930s. A lot of actions that Putin takes
is very similar to Hitler. If you read history buffs you'll know Hitler served
in the World War I army. He hated that his country collapsed and they signed
the Treaty of Versailles. And what did he do? He ran and created a new party.
And ran in democracy again and again, until he won. When he won, what did he
do? He took the freedoms away, and then he rebuilt his military. And even
though it went against the Treaty of Versailles, the world power said nothing.
And then what did he do? He took part of Czechoslovakia, they took Austria.
And then he told the entire world he's going to take the rest of it on a given
day. So now the world power could not sit back. So in come Neville
Chamberlain. But what had happened? Hitler loved it because he was equal now
to the world power. But he saw weakness. Neville Chamberlain made him sign a
piece of paper and told us peace for our time. And then he invaded Poland the
next year, in World War II began. If you study Putin, didn't serve in the
Soviet Union army, but he served in the KGB. He hated that his country
collapsed to the west. He hated it so much. When Gorbachev died, he still
didn't attend the funeral. What did he do? He rebuilt his military. But he
learned something. A military makes you strong, but dependency makes you weak.
He rebuilt it by selling his natural gas to Europe. But when his pipeline then
went through Ukraine, when they changed power, he didn't want to pay. So he
proposed a new pipeline, Nord stream 2. Everybody loved it. America at least
sanctioned it. Merkel said great. But what did he do when then he rebuilt his
military? Invaded Georgia, took part of the Donbas, took Crimea. And the world
powers really didn't say much. But then when he parked 100,000 troops on the
border of Ukraine after he watched Afghanistan collapse. That's going to give
us challenges for the next two decades. He got his meeting with the world
power so in comes Biden. And what does Biden do? He lifts the sanctions off
Nord Stream 2, but asks nothing for it. Putin misreads that and invades
Ukraine thinking it would collapse in two weeks based upon Afghanistan. But
now we have something even worse that's happened in the 1930s. Before Hitler
moved, he created an axis of power, with Italy and Japan, all countries who
wanted to expand their sphere of influence. Before Putin invaded Afghanistan,
what did he do? Create an axis of power with China, North Korea, and Iran, all
countries who want to expand their sphere of influence. So what we do here is
very important. We can't sit there and just collapse it because they'll look
from Afghanistan. We can't just throw money at it if we provide the weapons to
be successful. But why it's so much personal to me. Was it 2014 or 2015 when
Putin invaded the first time, I went to Ukraine and then I came back and I
took a bipartisan group and we went to the White House and we sat in the
situation room with then the vice president who was in charge of Ukraine, Joe
Biden. And we advocated, let's sell them javelins so they can stop tanks, so
they wouldn't invade. He said no. He said Europeans wouldn't want. I said,
well, why don't we sell them to them now and keep them in Poland. Didn't think
that was right. I fear of making the same mistake twice and sending the wrong
messages. But the thing I would tell everybody is more Americans are dying on
the southern border than are dying in Ukraine. Each and every day a plane of
Americans crash from Fentanyl. And I don't understand how the White House
continues to ignore it. My whole plan, and I've been up front from the very
beginning when I would say, if you want anything on Ukraine, we got to do
something with the border. >> Mr. McCarthy, you mentioned earlier you regret
helping in some instances. >> I was joking. They're all right. >> Are you
considering supporting primary challenges to [inaudible 00:30:20] Republicans?
>> Well, you know one of the things when I was running for speaker, that's it,
I couldn't get involved in primaries. But I told the conference I'm a free
agent now, aren't I? I think I'm pretty good at electing people. >> Mr.
McCarthy, when was the last time you spoke to President Biden and do you
expect to now? >> I was thinking about that. It's been a long time. I couldn't
remember when I spoke to him last. I've worked with a couple of different
presidents. I thought we had built some respect for one one another going
through the debt ceiling. I know he got frustrated with me, and I have a great
deal of respect for the people in his office I worked with, Rishedy and all of
them. We have different [inaudible 00:31:08] than the others. They're smart. I
respect them. They were honest and I thought we made a good agreement. As a
president, I would engage more. I think being hands on, look, you're the
leader of the free world, all the other presidents, I think bringing people
together is a better way of talking through stuff. When you're in those rooms,
you can talk about all sorts of things. >> Do you think opening an impeachment
inquiry because of the behavior of his son might have contributed to that? >>
To what part? >> That part that you guys not communicating regularly. >> No,
let's talk about that. You remember what impeachment inquiry is. It is simply
the ability to give the House, Republicans and Democrats, the power when you
request for information. So, if you were lawmakers, and I hold you in high
esteem because you are investigative reporters, in a manner you're supposed to
cover this stuff; when I came into Power, I didn't know any of this. I did not
know, when he was Vice President, that his family created 20 shell companies.
I had no idea about that. I'm not saying that's wrong. I did not know they got
16 of the 17 payments from Romania while he was Vice President and he was
supposed to be in charge of Romania. I didn't know that. I had no idea when a
whistleblower came to us and said that the FBI has an informant they still
pay, who claims that the President was bribed by $5,000,000. And it was
interesting, we had to fight to get that document. And when we got that
document, it said it'd be hard to find because he has a lot of shell
companies. Then I had no idea that IRS agents would come to us. How would I
know? They come to us and say, look, we've worked for 16 years, we don't have
any political basis on the other side. But we're concerned with what's
happened here, that DOJ allowed the statute of limitations to run out, that
they weren't allowed to interview Hunter, because when they went and told the
FBI, they told them, and then they even told the inaugural committee, I didn't
know how that play in, that the DOJ would call Hunter Biden's attorneys and
tell them that they didn't even know about a storage unit with all the papers
before they could go there. The president told us he never had a meeting, he
never talked to his son. Look, when he said he never talked to his son, I
didn't believe that. I don't think it's wrong that you talk to your son. I
want you to talk to your kids about anything; it doesn't mean you're
influencing something. But I had no idea that the partner to Hunter Biden that
also served on the Ukrainian Energy Board said they would literally call into
meetings. And then he said that they were getting a lot of pressure Burisma to
do something about the Ukraine prosecutor and I did know the president tell
the entire country that he withheld $1 billion of American taxpayer money to
get rid of the prosecutor. And then we found out the President not only called
in the meeting that he went to Cafe Milano. He went to Cafe Milano more times
and met with the foreign business partners of Hunter Biden than he has gone to
the border in 50 years. But with each meeting that you went to Cafe Milano,
and I've never had this happen, I've been to Cafe Milano, but I've never
gotten a new Porsche the next day; and I never got $3,000,000 wired to me from
a Russian oligarch. So if you knew all of that, would you at least say , I
think there's more thing. We've never asked for the tax, the bank statements
of the president, of Hunter, or anybody else. And these 20 shell companies had
credit cards that were being paid. Now this laptop that was supposed to be
Russian that we now found out was Hunter, in there, he did say his father
would take the money from him. We did find out that the president, I didn't
know this when I became speaker, used another name while he was vice president
for emails. And in one of the emails, it said that it only went to him and his
son, Hunter, and it was about a phone call he was going to have with the
President of Ukraine. Now, if you knew all of that, would you say, I don't
have any more questions, or as a law maker, and you have a role here, wouldn't
you at least say, we're going to have to go get some more documents. And if
you're going to get more documents, I just want to make sure, if they're going
to fight it and string everything out, that we can get it. That's all
impeachment inquiry. Now, if that made the President upset, maybe he shouldn't
have lied to us from the beginning. Yes. >> Thank you, sir. Former President
Trump was very not in support of you [inaudible 00:36:00] I know you said you
[inaudible 00:36:01] truth on several things, implying today that president
was in support of what he was doing. What was your experience talking- >> I
doubt if that's true. Yes, ma'am. >> You spoke about your fundraising prowess
and the impact you've had in [inaudible 00:36:18] last year. Are you nervous
that because of events today, that conference risks losing- >> Look, I didn't
say that. I was just told that by Democrats in their conference. That's what
helped them make their decision. I think their quote was, "Why would we help
the person that becomes our executioner?" >> Do you think that today's events
will hurt the conference's chances of expanding the [inaudible 00:36:43] in
2024? >> No, I'm sure Matt Gates will give the NRCC a lot of money. He raised
a lot online. >> You mentioned the other question. Cases brought against your
personal life, do you think you [inaudible 00:36:54]? >> I'm not quite sure. I
don't need to find out either. Look at, Judge me by my enemies. >> Have you
spoken to the former president at any point today? >> No. >> There's so much
strategy [inaudible 00:37:12] find consensus and the most conservative option
in trying to pass that [inaudible 00:37:19]. Do you think that was the right
tactic? Should congress do that going forward or [inaudible 00:37:24]? >> Let
me ask you this. Would we ever have gotten the debt ceiling? Schumer said
never talk to us. Schumer went on a Sunday show watch, Kevin's going to break.
The President said he would never talk to me, that we just had to raise it.
Have we not passed the bill? We never got it, so yes, I think it worked well.
Yes. >> What kind of role do you see yourself or you want to see yourself
playing in the party moving forward? Is that campaigning or is there any kind
of role you want to have? >. Well, no, I'll continue to help all the way
possible. Look, I've been very fortunate. When I came to congress in my second
term, I got to be chief deputy whip, I got to majority whip, I got to be
majority leader, I've been minority leader, and I've been speaker. I've been
blessed. And there's something about 10,000 hours, I believe in it. A lot of
different experience and I believe in bringing new blood up and helping them
and I want to help them all the way. Look, I enjoy you. I don't know if you'll
cover me as much, but I'm sure I won't miss you, but see you soon