Kevin McCarthy 'in a bind' after Trump sexual abuse courtroom loss

An MSNBC panel discussion on the legal peril Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is facing turned to its impact on how House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will deal with the possible criminal conviction of one of the members of his caucus with Donald Trump drawn into the mix.

As MSNBC reported, "Santos, 34, who surrendered into custody Wednesday morning, has been charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, according to the Justice Department."

Speaking with host Ayman Mohyeldin, Vanity Fair contributor Molly Jong-Fast claimed it would be difficult for the senior Republican to oust Santos and say he has no place in government when Donald Trump was just labeled a sexual predator in a Manhattan courtroom and is facing multiple investigations of his own.

According to the host "Kevin McCarthy is on the sidelines here, not calling on Santos to resign although he says he won't support his reelection. He's not calling on him to resign. Will the continued public embarrassment have any impact or is this all a numbers game for Speaker Kevin McCarthy regardless of the quality of the people who support him?"

"I'm not sure Kevin McCarthy has the intellectual heft to understand why this might hurt him," Jong-Fast quipped. "Why having someone in the Republican congressional party, I mean someone who says things like I'm not any worse than anyone else in Congress. I feel like that's not a great defense."

"But I also think this is an interesting situation because Kevin McCarthy is like, remember he's a Trump sycophant," she noted. "Once you start telling people they have to resign for doing things that don't smell right, you really have trouble defending Trump."

"I do think Kevin McCarthy is really in a bind here and I love to see it," she added.

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MSNBC 05 14 2023 07 21 59youtu.be