'Can't believe I just saw that': Reporter recounts moment McCarthy shoved GOP lawmaker

A reporter reacted to a physical altercation she witnessed between Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and a Republican congressman who voted to oust him as House speaker.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) claims the California Republican elbowed him in the kidneys as he walked past him Tuesday in a Capitol Hill hallway, and NPR's Claudia Grisales told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that she saw it happen.

"It was very stunning," Grisales said. "This is a tradition [on] Tuesday mornings when Republicans meet in a nearby conference room in the basement area, and we often talk with members as they pull off to the side of this hallway. Burchett had done the same, came to the side to talk to me. He said one sentence to me before he was shoved. He lurched into me. We were about two feet apart, he probably lurched about a foot in front of me, so it was just a very shocking moment. I look over, it's McCarthy and his detail. They are not stopping at all during that entire confrontation. McCarthy is looking back to respond to Burchett and deny it and chuckling at one point when Burchett was saying you're a pathetic man. I cannot believe I just saw that."

McCarty denied shoving Burchett, but Grisales said he was personally involved in the scuffle.

"He was shoved, and because he lurched into me, and also, it was clear to me, I thought, initially it was a joke," Grisales said. "But then a few seconds pass before I realize, this was not a joke at all."

Watch the video below or at this link.

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