Kevin McCarthy ‘Shoves’ Republican Colleague, Sparking Chase: Report

GOP Representative Kevin McCarthy appeared to hit one of his GOP colleagues on Tuesday afternoon, prompting a hallway chase between the two in the House.

Claudia Grisales, a congressional correspondent for NPR, detailed the incident on X, formerly Twitter, where she said she was speaking with Republican Representative Tim Burchett when the former House speaker “walked by with his detail and McCarthy shoved Burchett.”

“Burchett lunged towards me. I thought it was a joke, it was not. And a chase ensued.” Grisales wrote.

According to Grisales, Burchett then followed McCarthy down a hallway and began yelling at McCarthy, asking why he hit him.

McCarthy replied, “I didn’t elbow you in the back,” Grisales reported, prompting Burchett to say ,”You got no guts, you did so…the reporter said it right there. What kind of chicken move is that? You’re pathetic, man, you are so pathetic.”

In another post, Grisales wrote: “Burchett tells me that’s the first point of ‘communication’ with McCarthy since Burchett voted for McCarthy’s ouster as speaker last month: ‘That’s just it’ for communication since ouster vote, ‘He’s just a jerk. He’s just a childish little…'”

Burchett’s press secretary told Newsweek that the Republican representative was “elbowed” by McCarthy.

“He’s a bully with $17 million and a security detail,” Burchett said, according to the press secretary.

Newsweek reached out to McCarthy via email for comment.

The report from Grisales comes a few weeks after Burchett was one of the eight Republicans who voted to remove McCarthy from his role as speaker of the House. Representative Matt Gaetz led the motion and, in addition to Burchett, was joined by Representatives Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, Nancy Mace, Bob Good, Eli Crane and Matt Rosendale.

This is a developing news story and will be updated when more information becomes available