Kevin McCarthy jokes it will be 'hard not to hit' Nancy Pelosi with the Speaker's gavel if Republicans regain the House majority next year as Tennessee GOP presents him with a comically oversized gavel
Kevin McCarthy said on Saturday he would have trouble 'not hitting' Nancy Pelosi with the Speaker's gavel if Republicans regain the House in 2022 and he takes the top post in the lower chamber.
The Minority leader also invited the group of 1,400 attending the Statesmen's Dinner in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday that they were invited to the event where Pelosi would hand him over the gavel.
'I'll make this one promise here – when we win the majority, which I know we're going to, you're all invited,' the California representative said to a group of cheering Republicans.
'I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel,' he added, before joking: 'It'll be hard not to hit her with it, but I will bang it down.'
At the same time, McCarthy wielding an oversized gavel he was gifted by the Tennessee delegation at the dinner.
Audio of the remarks from McCarthy were captured by Main Street Nashville.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was presented with a comically large gavel at a Statesmen's dinner in Nashville on Saturday where he said: 'I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel. It'll be hard not to hit her with it, but I will bang it down'
McCarthy invited all 1,400 attendees on Saturday in the instance Pelosi has to hand over the real gavel after the 2022 election
The latest attack against Pelosi comes as the war of words and bipartisan bickering between the parties' top House leaders escalates in the midst of controversy over the Capitol riot committee.
They two are also publicly at odds after the Centers for Disease and Prevention released updated guidance last week saying even fully vaccinated Americans should return to wearing masks indoors in high transmission areas.
The Capitol Physician also reimplemented mask mandates for House lawmakers and their staff last week, the Senate has not.
Pelosi on Wednesday called McCarthy a 'moron' for opposing new mask guidelines.
Getting into her SUV, Pelosi was heard muttering of McCarthy: 'He's such a moron.'
McCarthy claimed the new guidelines from CDC on face masks were not 'based on science' but from 'liberal government officials.'
Here McCarthy hands over the Speaker's gavel to Pelosi on January 3, 2019 after Democrats took back the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections
'Make no mistake - the threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state,' McCarthy wrote on Twitter Tuesday.
Asked later to clarify her remark, Pelosi didn't deny it.
'To say that wearing a mask is not based on science, I think it's is not wise, and that was my comment and that's all I'm gonna say about that,' she clarified.
McCarthy snapped back sarcastically by telling reporters on Capitol Hill: 'Well, if she's so brilliant, can she tell me where the science in the building changes between the House and the Senate? Can she explain to me when the CDC says only vaccinated people need to wear a mask in hotspots?'
Relation hit an all time low in July when Pelosi rejected two of McCarthy's picks – Representatives Jim Jordan and Jim Banks – for her select committee investigating the events surrounding the January 6 Capitol riot.
The GOP leader ended up pulling all five of his nominees for the committee.
Instead, Pelosi chose Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger, a Trump critic, to join the group.
Kinzinger and Liz Cheney are the two sole Republicans on the nine-person committee, which held their first hearing last week.