CNN’s Manu Raju Shuts Down Chip Roy: ‘You Are The Ones Who Can’t Get Behind A Candidate Here!’

CNN’s Capitol Hill reporter Manu Raju shut down Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) when he tried to blame Democrats for something — anything — to distract from the chaos caused by removing Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the House speakership.

Raju positioned himself outside the conference room where Republicans had just voted by secret ballot to end Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) attempts to succeed McCarthy.

“Congressman Roy, how big of a mistake was it for the Republicans who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy without a plan here?” Raju asked.

“Look, I’m not going to go down that road. That’s been asked and answered, right? I didn’t support the motion to vacate, I supported Jim Jordan wholeheartedly, I think it was a mistake for the Republican conference to just walk away from arguably the most popular Republican in the Republican party. So we shouldn’t have done that, we just did, so now we gotta go back — ”

“So, who’s going to be the candidate now?” Raju interrupted.

“You think I’m going to start positing that? I’ll tell you what, I’ll pick somebody I definitely don’t want to be speaker and I will mention that name,” Roy said sarcastically.

“Why is it so hard for the GOP to get their act together here?” Raju continued.

“Look, I’ve answered this before. You can agree or you can disagree. Our Democratic colleagues will not work on us with a single thing to secure the border. Not one thing — ”

“You’re the ones who can’t get behind a candidate here!” Raju exclaimed.

“Hold on. So, what we’re doing is we’re having a debate here among the 221 who are actually willing to have a debate about the things our people care about, and some of it spills out in public. And, you know what? It’s a hell of a lot better than having a decision made by the Kremlin and foisted upon you. We are saying this all out in public view, and the American people can see it;  it’s the sausage getting made, it’s the worst system except for all the others.”

“You think this looks good?” an incredulous Raju asked.

“Having the American people be able to see how we are wrestling with the tough decisions and what’re trying to do and doing it with intensity, and because we care about this country. And God bless all of these people who put their names forward. All of the stuff we’re wrestling with. Because it’s a hell of a lot better than the way the rest of the world has always done it,” Roy finished before walking away.

Watch the clip above via CNN.