Fox News host Brian Kilmeade brushed off a Tuesday incident during which he was caught on a hot microphone calling a Republican lawmaker a “dumbass” for not supporting Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for Speaker.
“I did not know my mic was open,” Kilmeade said on his radio show Wednesday. “But next thing you know, by the time I walk upstairs, out of ‘Outnumbered,’ my seventh hour of broadcasting, my last words were ‘dumbass.’ Those were the words that were being carried everywhere.”
As the names of lawmakers were read by the House clerk Tuesday during a roll call vote, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) voted for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), whose ouster two weeks ago began the current turmoil over his replacement.
Bacon was one of several GOP votes against Jordan, who won the party’s nomination last week but has failed to win a majority of votes on the House floor in two rounds of voting this week.
Kilmeade was heard on Fox’s airwaves saying “dumbass,” after Bacon’s vote was cast.
Kilmeade said Wednesday: “No one’s really upset that I said it. No one said I’m wrong that I said it.”
“I am … stunned. I’ve never seen somebody commit political suicide, a group of people commit political suicide like this,” he said of House Republicans who have refused to back Jordan for House Speaker. “And after two weeks of therapy, people going home on their own and coming back, they’re still doing the same thing.”
During a second round of voting Wednesday, 22 Republicans voted against Jordan, two more than the first round of voting. He can only afford to lose a handful of votes, given the GOP’s narrow majority.
House leaders are planning another vote Wednesday, a source told The Hill.