Iowa's King Rebuked by GOP Leaders, Stripped of Committee Posts
Iowa's King Rebuked by GOP Leaders, Removed From Committee Work
(Bloomberg) -- Iowa Republican Representative Steve King was rebuked by GOP House leaders Monday and stripped of his committee assignments over his inflammatory rhetoric about white nationalism and white supremacy.
House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California said he informed King of the decision in a telephone call after a meeting of the Republican steering committee in the House. King was on the Judiciary, Small Business and Agriculture Committees, the latter particularly important to a lawmaker from a farm state.
“We’ve made a decision not to put Mr. King on any committees,” McCarthy of California told reporters. He said it wasn’t just King’s most recent comments on race but rather his history of similar statements.
In a statement, McCarthy added, “Steve’s remarks are beneath the dignity of the party of Lincoln and the United States of America. His comments call into question whether he will treat all Americans equally, without regard for race and ethnicity.”
In response, King issued his own statement. “Leader McCarthy’s decision to remove me from committees is a political decision that ignores the truth,” King said, insisting that his quote about white supremacy and white nationalism in a recent New York Times article “has been completely mischaracterized.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and several other GOP senators denounced King’s comments earlier in the day. Newly seated Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, said in a statement that King “ought to step aside and I think Congress ought to make it very clear he has no place there.”
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the chamber’s No. 3 Democrat, said on the House floor Monday evening that he had introduced a resolution disapproving of King’s comments and condemning white supremacy. He called on both Republicans and Democrats to break the “deafening silence” and support the resolution.
King came under fire last week after the Times quoted him as saying, “white nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?”
Amid the rising furor over that statement, King said last week on the House floor that he is an “American nationalist,” not a “white supremacist” or “white nationalist.”
But King, 69 and first elected to Congress in 2002, has a history of inflammatory statements on race and immigration as well as associating with members of far-right, nationalist movements both at home and abroad.
He has made derogatory remarks about immigrants and expressed admiration for Viktor Orban, the right-wing prime minister of Hungary. He tweeted support for Orban’s attacks on George Soros, a billionaire supporter of the Democratic Party and liberal causes, who was one of a dozen recipients of mail bombs allegedly sent by a Trump supporter last fall
King endorsed Faith Goldy, a Canadian who has been tied to white supremacists and attended the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in her unsuccessful bid to become mayor of Toronto last year.
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, an African-American, called on his party to get rid of King in a recent Washington Post opinion article, writing that “silence is no longer acceptable.’’
“When people with opinions similar to King’s open their mouths, they damage not only the Republican Party and the conservative brand but also our nation as a whole,’’ Scott wrote. “Some in our party wonder why Republicans are constantly accused of racism — it is because of our silence when things like this are said.’’
McCarthy said he had not discussed King’s punishment with President Donald Trump. Trump said earlier Monday that he wasn’t familiar with King’s remarks. “I really haven’t been following it,” Trump said.
At a rally in Iowa in October, Trump said, King “may be the world’s most conservative human being.”
“And I supported him long before I became a politician,” the president said at the rally.
Just before the November elections, King was abandoned by some Republican leaders and donors over his comments and stances in the wake of the massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue, which brought renewed attention to some of his remarks. He won re-election, though narrowly.
Iowa state Senator Randy Feenstra recently announced he would challenge King in the Republican primary in 2020.
“Sadly, today, the voters and conservative values of our district have lost their seat at the table because of Congressman King’s caustic behavior,” Feenstra said in a statement on Monday night.
--With assistance from Billy House and Sahil Kapur.
To contact the reporters on this story: Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.net;Arit John in Washington at ajohn34@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, John Harney
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