McCarthy reflects on first week as House speaker
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., discusses Biden's classified documents, the China committee and other top GOP priorities in an exclusive interview on "Sunday Morning Futures."
In an exclusive interview on "Sunday Mornings Futures," newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., detailed what Republicans will do about President Joe Biden’s classified documents and other top priorities facing the party following his first week in the position.
Reacting first to multiple classified White House documents being found at Biden’s personal Delaware residence and private office at the Penn Biden Center, McCarthy said the timing of the discovery and Justice Department’s special counsel investigation represents "why the American public does not trust their government."
"Congress has an independent constitutional obligation to oversee all aspects of the Justice Department, and that includes special counsels as well. And so we will have a role in overseeing what's transpiring here. What's real concerning to me is how justice is applied and is it applied equally," McCarthy told host Maria Bartiromo.
"How many years has this vice president, who's been in [public] office for more than 40 years, had these documents? Who's been in and out of there?" the speaker continued. "So, they apply a special counsel, but how many agents do they apply to that and applied to [former] President [Donald] Trump as well? This is just hypocrisy."
Under immense scrutiny from Republicans, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel Thursday to investigate the now-found classified materials, which Biden claims were "inadvertently misplaced." The GOP has also raised suspicions on the post-midterm election discovery of Biden’s documents after the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in August.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., called out the DOJ's "hypocrisy" and "weaponization" on "Sunday Mornings Futures," Jan. 15, 2023.
"I'm tired of this Justice Department that we found that went after parents and others, that they utilize it to go after people because they have different political beliefs. That is what's wrong with government," McCarthy said Sunday. "And this is a prime example of why we passed this week a new select committee that will fall under Jim Jordan's Committee for the Weaponization of Government, that we can look into what the FBI has been doing from Twitter and everywhere else and change the course where we can now trust our law enforcement."
Garland tapped Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney, to lead the Biden investigation. But McCarthy echoed similar warnings from former colleague Devin Nunes, who claimed Hur should be questioned on his "ties to the Russia hoax."
"Why is it every time there's an investigation of a Republican, they're always tied together in a small little loop? Couldn't we have an independent person in the FBI that has no ties to anything to investigate something? Why is it always from a small protected group of friends [that] are the only ones that they put in to have [as] counsel?" the speaker said.
"We will get to the bottom of this no matter how long it takes us and how hard we have to fight," he continued. "There's one thing I think, I hope the American public realized from watching the race for speaker: I will never give up. That means I will never give up on you on getting the truth."
WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR: TIMELINE OF BIDEN'S CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS DEBACLE
After his first week as speaker, McCarthy said "very productive" progress has been made within the Republican Party, including the repeal of 87,000 new IRS agents, a select committee on China, and preserving the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He also teased upcoming legislation on border security and halting emergency COVID funds.
One of the speaker’s more controversial ideas has been the proposal to release all video evidence from the Jan. 6 committee, which he clarified on "Sunday Mornings Futures."
"The reason why I looked up releasing those tapes, I watched the politicization of what transpired there, that [former House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi wouldn't release her own texts but would pick and choose who could be on that committee," McCarthy said. "So, the best way to handle this, I think, is exactly the way Elon Musk just put all the information out there and let people see what is truth and what is not. So, the best way to do that is release the tapes. People can know for themselves instead of picking and choosing what views they want people to see."
"I think all that information should come forward and let the American public understand what transpired and let them know the full truth," the House speaker added.
Looking ahead, McCarthy hopes to have his first conversation with Biden regarding budget cuts and raising the debt ceiling.
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"Every government has to do this, every state has to balance their budget, county, city. For the White House to say they won't even look at it, that they can't find one penny out of a dollar of eliminating waste, I think they were just trying to put us into bankruptcy," McCarthy said. "What I am saying, and it's my conversation with the president on our first conversation, let's sit down together. Let's look at the places that we can change our behavior. The first thing I would say is: Why don't you make the House and Senate both produce a budget? They don't produce a budget. So, you know they're wasting money."
Continuing his message to the president, McCarthy said, "Let's sit down and change our behavior for the good of America, because what we're going to do is bankrupt this country and bankrupt these entitlements if we don't change our behavior today."
Fox News’ Kyle Morris contributed to this report.