Last Updated on December 11, 2022
US Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who is running for Speaker of the House, has been accused by another Speaker candidate in US Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) of playing dirty politics and misusing power to scare other House Republicans into compliance.
Biggs and other opponents of McCarthy, such as U.S. Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) have told the media recently that they are not supporting McCarthy for House Speaker because of his corrupt tactics in elevating his own agenda over the America First-Conservative-Populist agenda. And they appear to be right.
An audio recording of McCarthy was leaked to the press in April 2021 in which he can be heard talking about censoring the Twitter accounts of President Donald J. Trump and other Republicans. The recording has recently re-emerged in the news cycle with the recent discussion of how Twitter executives determined they should censor President Donald J. Trump, as well as how they could control the content of other posters.
In the audio, McCarthy can be heard discussing the social media posts and habits of Republicans they are monitoring. He was also not in opposition of censoring said members of his own caucus and instead seemed more concerned about the details of the Republicans who were talking about their concerns about the 2020 election.
BREAKING: GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy wanted Twitter to suspend the accounts of other Republican members of Congress, according to reporting by Jonathan Martin @jmartNYT and Alex Burns @alexburnsNYT pic.twitter.com/jwAoMAqYCn
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) April 22, 2022
McCarthy has recently been the recipient of some favorable press from corporate media outlets. Rep. Good addressed exactly that point in a recent interview, saying, “the same media who love McCarthy now will be on our case for rubber stamping him- in the future- if he gets to be Speaker.”
McCarthy was caught saying one thing to the public and then behind the scenes doing something totally different.
“Through coercion, coordination, and influence, the federal government has used Twitter and another big tech as its stick to silence speech it doesn’t like. We will bring accountability. And Americans’ free speech will be protected,” McCarthy posted.
McCarthy’s public comments run in sharp contrast to what he has said privately, however.
More of the McCarthy recording pic.twitter.com/81jBHX8bcz
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 27, 2022