Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) blasted Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) as one of the “least ethical” and “least respected” members of Congress in a scathing takedown on Fox News Monday.
Appearing on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” McCarthy made the comments after host Jesse Watters asked him about his thoughts on people saying “how great” the “next generation of Democrats” are.
“Have you seen this?” Watters questioned McCarthy, to which he replied, “I can only hope.”
McCarthy then took aim at Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, who recently joined the race for California governor.
McCarthy and Swalwell have clashed in the past after Swalwell accused McCarthy of inciting multiple death threats against him and his family.
“When I became speaker, I tried to raise the bar in Congress,” McCarthy began. “It’s not a high bar, but the first thing I did was remove Swalwell from the [House Intelligence] committee. If you get top secret knowledge, the very least is you can’t sleep with a Chinese spy.”
McCarthy was referencing Swalwell’s relationship with a Chinese national suspected of spying on the United States. The House Ethics Committee concluded a two-year investigation into Swalwell in May 2023 over such allegations that he had ties to a Chinese intelligence operative.
Swalwell was not accused of any wrongdoing, and the committee determined it wouldn’t take any further action.
While raining ire down on Swalwell, McCarthy suddenly switched gears to torching Mace about her ethics.
“I can only hope the Democrats nominate [Swalwell] because every time in Congress we would vote on a bipartisan basis who was the least ethical, who was the least respected, it was always a tie between Swalwell and Nancy Mace,” he continued. “And I just don’t see these people leading anywhere.”
McCarthy’s blow prompted a laugh from Watters, who replied, “Oh, my gosh. You hate Nancy Mace.”
McCarthy quickly clarified, “No, no, I don’t,” before raising concerns about Mace’s mental health.
“I want her to get the help she needs. I just don’t want to put her in a position that she makes decisions,” he added.
McCarthy’s comments come two years after Mace, alongside seven other Republicans, voted to boot him out as speaker of the House in October 2023.
Following Mace’s vote to dethrone McCarthy, he backed Mace’s primary challenger, Catherine Templeton, a former gubernatorial candidate, in a competitive Republican primary in June 2024.
Mace accused McCarthy of seeking to get “revenge” over her vote to oust him — though she declared she didn’t regret casting the vote.
Despite McCarthy and his allies putting forth millions to defeat Mace, the congresswoman won her primary.
Watch McCarthy’s appearance on Fox News below.