Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who was booted from the role in 2023 by hardliners within the GOP House caucus after a historically short tenure, will be releasing a book next week that Punchbowl News described Tuesday as “a pretty juicy read” – and it’s already causing “much angst” among GOP leaders.
“It dives deep into former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s rise and ultimate fall from Congress,” Punchbowl News’ report reads. “It has some pretty good nuggets from the rooms [McCarthy’s senior congressional aide John] Leganski was in.”
McCarthy’s tenure as House speaker was the third shortest in U.S. history, and saw the California Republican face a revolt from the far-right House Freedom Caucus, often over McCarthy’s willingness to work with Democrats amid the GOP’s razor thin majority following the 2022 midterm elections.
An uncharacteristically low number of bills passed during McCarthy’s tenure, which was fraught with GOP in-fighting that included tense confrontations and, in the lead up to McCarthy’s confirmation, at least one near-physical altercation in which Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) had to be restrained.
In one portion of the book reviewed by Punchbowl News, which is titled “Glory, Grief, and the Gavel: An Inside Guide to Running for Speaker of the House,” McCarthy told his staff ahead of his confirmation – fraught with tension and heated debate – that his staff “always need to have a will in place.”
McCarthy’s book is just one of two set to be released next week that has Republicans nervous, with The New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan set to release their own book, “Regime Change,” on June 23, which the White House reportedly fears may include damning details from within the Situation Room.