Rep. Steve King (R-IA) made his true feelings about the backlash over his comments about white supremacy known during an interview with a St. Louis radio station on Wednesday, pushing back against House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) criticism of him.
“(McCarthy) decided he’s going to to believe the New York Times over Steve King and that’s a fact and I will tell you, if there’s support out there for Liz Cheney — you can’t put her in the category of ever being a conservative again,” he said. “She’s called for my resignation, she’s been here two years. What would give her the moral authority or the intellectual judgment to do something like that?”
Cheney has called for King’s resignation and while McCarthy hasn’t gone quite that far, he has lobbed veiled criticism at previous party leadership for not addressing King’s history of racist behavior sooner.
King has been condemned roundly by members of his party and even the White House for a comment he made to the New York Times questioning why the term “white supremacist” was “offensive.” The House voted in favor of a disapproval resolution earlier this week as a formal denunciation of the comments.
