McCarthy says he ‘couldn’t live’ with himself if he did deal with Democrats to save Speakership

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reflected on the end of his Speakership on Thursday while taking a dig at Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), saying he “couldn’t live” with himself if he cut a deal with Democrats to keep his job.

McCarthy was ousted from the Speakership in October after eight Republicans, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), backed a motion to vacate, alongside all Democrats. McCarthy said he refused to work with Democrats to save his job at the time, claiming their price was too high.

“I couldn’t live with myself if I’d done a deal with Democrats,” he said in an appearance on Politico’s “Power Play” podcast. “If you can’t sustain being speaker by your own majority, should you sustain it? No.”

Democrats backed Johnson in a late-night vote to shut down a motion to vacate brought by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Wednesday, citing his actions to advance a foreign spending bill that irritated some conservatives.

Despite that deal, McCarthy said going against Greene’s motion was the right move.

“It’s different than a Matt Gaetz,” McCarthy said of Greene’s ouster attempt. “She wants to have a policy discussion.”

He added he doesn’t support the motion to vacate rule itself, and said Johnson’s leadership is “not as productive” because of Greene’s attempt.

“The motion to vacate doesn’t allow a Speaker to be Speaker, and you need to have that otherwise, we’ve got a coalition government is which it seems like they have today and that’s not as productive,” he added, 

Despite his denouncing bipartisan deals, Gaetz cited McCarthy’s own agreement with Democrats over the debt ceiling as his reason to remove the former Speaker last year. McCarthy said he viewed that deal differently because it was over legislation, instead of over the rules of the House.

McCarthy maintained that his ouster wasn’t about the debt ceiling deal, but rather a personal matter between him and Gaetz related to an ethics complaint into Gaetz, which McCarthy refused to close.

“If you wanted me to break the law and stop the ethics complaint, I could still be speaker,” he said. “But I’d rather stand on the merit of doing what is right.”

Gaetz and McCarthy have sparred for months since the former Speaker was removed. McCarthy, who has since resigned from Congress, has backed Gaetz’s primary opponent and funded primary opponents to others who voted against him.