Rep. Jones Warns Candidates: Don’t Run for Speaker If You Have ‘Skeletons in Your Closet’

CAMEROTA: “You say I’m that asking that any candidate, withdraw himself from the leadership election if there are any misdeeds he has committed. You go on to say, ‘Most difficult times had been when Republican leaders step down because of skeletons in their closet’. And then you go on to say: ‘We need to be able to represent the will of the people, unhindered by potentially embarrassing scandals.’ Did you know something, in particular about Kevin McCarthy?”
JONES: “No — no — not about Mr. McCarthy. This—again, I was here when Newt stepped down. I was here when Bob Livingston stepped down. And then there have been some other things happening in Washington that really had brought this to my mind, that we needed some type of process — in the process, I mean. We should have the ability to have a member running and asking the conference and really the American people to put them in leadership positions: do you have anything in your closet that could be embarrassing to the conference, to the nation? That is all this was about. And if something —“ [Crosstalk]
CAMEROTA: “But — but when you say, congressman, that you know of other things happening in Washington, that gave you pose, what were those?”
JONES: “Well it just, you know, rumors. Not about Mr. McCarthy but other things that have happened over the — I’ve been here 20 years, so you can imagine I’ve heard a lot of rumors. Some of true and some of not true. But it was just — just a combination of many things that I’ve heard over the past two or three years that bothered me. And I don’t see anything wrong if a Republican in the conference would ask a person — who wants their vote: ‘Do you have anything that could be embarrassing?’ And this, if you noted in the letter, it says ‘since you’ve been a member of Congress.’”