Hannity presses Boebert on Speaker chaos: ‘Is this a game show?’

Fox News host Sean Hannity repeatedly pressed Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Col.) about her efforts to block Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) bid to claim the Speakership this week during a tense interview on his nightly program on Wednesday.

“Isn’t it time for you and your side to pack it in considering he [McCarthy] has over 200 [votes] and you have 20?” Hannity asked the Republican congresswoman.

“I understand the frustration. I promise you,” she replied.

“I’m not frustrated,” Hannity interrupted. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“There are more for us than against us,” Boebert continued.

It was the first back-and-forth in a sparring match between the widely watched conservative cable news host and the firebrand Republican congresswoman amid a chaotic race for the House Speakership that has consumed Washington this week.

As Boebert described her displeasure with McCarthy, Hannity pressed her repeatedly, asking, “Who do you want to be speaker of the House?”

“I am willing to have conversations with the Republican conference to come up with a consensus candidate,” she replied.

Later, after Boebert suggested she might nominate former President Trump, who has urged all Republicans to support McCarthy, Hannity scoffed, saying, “Is this a game show? Like we’re gonna pick [Rep.] Jim Jordan [R-Ohio] one day, Trump the other day?”

Boebert and a number of other hard-line Republicans have all week stood between McCarthy and the 218 votes he needs to secure the Speakership, claiming the Republican leader symbolizes what they have described as the political establishment in Washington, D.C.

McCarthy’s bid for the Speakership had failed in six votes as of Wednesday, and pressure is growing on Republicans to nominate a candidate for Speaker who can secure the 218 votes needed to claim the gavel.

Hannity, a supporter of Trump and McCarthy, warned his audience earlier this week that the ongoing Speaker drama is bad for the GOP and would distract from its agenda heading into the new Congress, whenever it is seated.

“If this fight goes on and on for day after day, week after week and the Republican agenda totally stalls out, you can forget about holding Biden accountable for pretty much anything,” Hannity said on Tuesday. “And the country will feel angry and frustrated and they will feel betrayed.”