McCarthy hits Pelosi for 'defending destruction,' says Speaker bolstering mob with 'appalling' statue comment

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. told "Bill Hemmer Reports" Friday that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was encouraging mob behavior and supporting "destruction" with her recent comments about the removal of controversial statues.

During her weekly press conference on Thursday, Pelosi declined to admonish demonstrators who tore down a statue of Christopher Columbus in her hometown of Baltimore.

"People will do what they do," said Pelosi, who added that "it's up to the communities to decide what statues they want to see."

On Friday, McCarthy described Pelosi's statement as "appalling."

"I think she’s defending destruction," he said. "That’s where she grew up, she's [of] Italian-American heritage and Christopher Columbus was torn down."

PELOSI ON CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS STATUE DESTRUCTION: 'PEOPLE WILL DO WHAT THEY DO'

McCarthy also accused Pelosi of not doing more to prevent the destruction of a statue in her own district in California.

"Think about the district she represents now in San Francisco, there was a statue of St. [Junipero] Serra. This is the individual who created nine different missions, who has a statue inside the Capitol that the speaker, myself and Joe Biden, along with the pope [Francis] stopped and prayed at [in 2015]. It was torn down and she said nothing."

He added: "This is appalling to me that she would defend the destruction ... We believe in a rule of law. This is adding to the mob and allowing it to be taken over."

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Pelosi dismissed McCarthy's criticisms about the Serra statue earlier this month.

“I'm trying to save the world from coronavirus," she said at the time, according to the Washington Examiner. "I have no interest in ... McCarthy, who hasn't had the faintest idea of our dynamic in our district.”