Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) has once again accused former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) of “shoulder-checking” him twice in the Capitol. This supports claims made by Representative Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) that McCarthy elbowed him in the hallway earlier this week. Kinzinger discussed his relationship with McCarthy in his book “Renegade” and reiterated the incidents in a recent interview with CNN. Kinzinger described the first incident, saying, “Wham! I get shoulder-checked. Never had that happen on the floor of the House. I turn, and Kevin McCarthy is already walking past me.” After a second incident weeks later, Kinzinger expressed his frustration, calling McCarthy a child. Burchett, one of the eight GOP members who voted to remove McCarthy from the Speakership last month, claimed that McCarthy intentionally elbowed him in a Capitol hallway. Burchett confronted McCarthy and questioned his actions. McCarthy denied intentionally hitting Burchett, which angered the Tennessee congressman. Burchett recounted, “I was standing there, and McCarthy elbowed me in the back. I said, ‘Hey, what the heck would you do that for?’ And he acted like, ‘Oh, I didn’t do anything,’ you know, and he’s just — he needs to go home back to Southern California.” Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a vocal rival of McCarthy who initiated the motion to remove him from the leadership role, filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee regarding the incident. McCarthy responded to the complaint by stating, “Oh, good. I think Ethics is a good place for Gaetz to be.”
Kinzinger stands firm, reasserts allegations of McCarthy’s double ‘shoulder-check’.
