WASHINGTON — Kevin McCarthy was ousted from power six days ago, but he’s still acting like he’s speaker of the House — at least when it comes to the Israel-Hamas war.
He held a news conference Monday to discuss the conflict, convening it first outside the speaker's office before moving to another room in the Capitol. He held a phone call with the speaker of the Knesset, the Israeli legislative body. He offered a five-point plan to help Israel, offered criticism of the administration and called for further U.S. action.
But stripped of his power, McCarthy lacks the ability to do anything, and his attempt to try to fill the void may do little more than draw attention to the fact that a chamber of Congress remains leaderless as the world grapples with a new crisis.
On Monday morning, McCarthy held a 35-minute news conference about the bloody conflict, saying Hamas militants who carried out the surprise attack had been emboldened by the Biden administration’s “policy of appeasement” toward Iran.
“President Biden’s No. 1 priority right now must be finding out how many Americans have been taken hostage and get them home. … This administration must also make clear that harming any American will result in the wrath of the United States,” McCarthy told reporters. “We cannot repeat what happened in Afghanistan. It must be clear that we do not negotiate with terrorists and no American will be left behind.”
He continued: “Biden’s policy on appeasement, including money for hostage deals, must come to an end. His policy has only emboldened terrorists, and handing over $6 billion to Iran only helps the cause.”
McCarthy warned on Fox News over the weekend that the vacancy has threatened the national security of the U.S. and Israel. He called his former counterpart, the speaker of the Israel Knesset, to reiterate U.S. solidarity with one of its closest allies.
His call to rescue American hostages is part of what McCarthy described as his five-point plan for Israel. His four other priorities are to: extradite the leader of Hamas; confront Iran, saying "Hamas is Iran's proxy"; shore up U.S. security, including U.S. intelligence failures; and confront antisemitism at home.
In expelling McCarthy from the speaker's office last week, his political foes also removed one of Israel's foremost allies in Congress. McCarthy leads a bipartisan congressional delegation to Israel every two years, most recently earlier this year as speaker. He is close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and he invited Israeli President Isaac Herzog to address a joint meeting of Congress in July.
On Monday, McCarthy recounted his phone call over the weekend with the Knesset speaker, Amir Ohana, who this year had invited him to address Israel's legislature.
“I called the speaker, Ohana. We’re close. I thought, to me, it felt a lot like 9/11 in my life. He said, 'No, it’s more like Pearl Harbor,’” McCarthy recalled. “I called other friends who I’ve known quite some time that I visit in Israel, and they visit here. ... They said please tell Americans that this won’t be over in a short endeavor, that this is something that they’ve never seen — the amount of deaths, that were slaughtered, like the Holocaust.”
Pressed several times about whether he is open to being elected speaker again given the new war raging in the Middle East, McCarthy would not rule out the possibility.
"That's a decision by the conference. I'll allow the conference to make whatever decision," McCarthy said. "Whether I'm speaker or not, I'm a member of this body. I know what history has had, and I can lead in any position it is, and right now, I realize we need these five actions taken now and stop delay."
