DNC chair calls Republicans fighting in Congress a ‘clown show’

The chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) called Republican fighting in Congress a “clown show” Tuesday.

“Kevin McCarthy is elbowing his colleagues,” Jaime Harrison told anchor Blake Burman in an interview on “The Hill on NewsNation.” “I mean, these folks, it’s a clown show on the Hill right now.”

Harrison appeared to reference an accusation by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) elbowed him in a Capitol hallway. McCarthy has denied that he did so. 

“I guess our elbows hit as I walked by,” McCarthy told reporters, including CNN. “If I would hit somebody, they would I know hit them.”

The alleged elbowing wasn’t the only fiery incident to rattle Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) nearly came to blows with the president of the Teamsters union on the same day. Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, read aloud International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien’s social media posts calling him a “clown” and “fraud” in a Senate hearing Tuesday.

“Sir, this is a time, this is a place. You want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults, we can finish it here,” Mullin said from the hearing room dais. 

“OK, that’s fine. Perfect,” O’Brien shot back. 

“You want to do it now?” Mullin asked. “Stand your butt up then.” 

In another hearing in the House on Tuesday, Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D) and House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) got into a spat that resulted in Comer saying Moskowitz looked like a “Smurf.”

“Gargamel was very angry today,” Moskowitz later quipped on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, referencing the main villain of the Smurfs universe.

“The Hill on NewsNation” airs Monday to Friday at 5 p.m.