Dan Crenshaw Bends Over Backwards to Appease Far-Right Colleagues He Called ‘Terrorists’ 4 Days Ago: ‘Pretty Obvious’ I Meant it as a ‘Turn of Phrase’

Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) tried to dial down the rhetoric after referring to his fellow Republicans as “terrorists” during the intense battle over Kevin McCarthy’s speakership.

Crenshaw joined CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday — who started by calling attention to the congressman’s heated rhetoric toward the Republican holdouts who repeatedly undermined McCarthy until he finally got enough votes to become House Speaker. The Texas Congressman moved to address the Fox News interview he had four days ago in which he called the McCarthy defectors “enemies” while saying “we cannot let the terrorists win.”

“Things get heated and things get said,” Crenshaw explained. “Obviously, to the people who took offense by that, it’s pretty obvious that it’s meant as a turn of phrase.”

“A metaphor,” Tapper suggested.

“It in the context of intransient negotiations,” Crenshaw continued.

I’ve got thick skin. I’m called awful, vile things by the very same wing of the party that I was fighting at that moment. So I was a little taken aback by the sensitivity of it. But to the extent that I have colleagues that were offended by it, I sincerely apologize to them. I don’t want them to think I actually believe they’re terrorists. It’s certainly a turn of phrase that you use in an intransient negotiation.

Crenshaw went on to attribute the animosity among Congressional Republicans to the lack of clarity about what McCarthy’s holdouts wanted from him throughout the tumultuous voting saga. He also objected to the multiple rounds of voting that took place in which McCarthy was politically beaten up until he finally secured the speakership.

Watch above via CNN.