‘Wake the f*** up you little s****’: Speaker plans to have a chat with Republican congressman caught screaming at teenage interns lying on the floor – after his office was found littered with bottles of booze
- McCarthy defended Derrick Van Orden telling reporters ‘that’s not the norm of Derrick Van Orden’ and adding he thought the incident was a ‘misunderstanding’
- In the early hours of Thursday morning Orden reportedly came across a group of Senate pages lying on the floor of the Capitol rotunda
- Orden called the 16- and 17-year-olds ‘jacka**es’ and ‘pieces of s**t’ for laying on the floor to get a photo
Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he planned to talk with Rep. Derrick Van Orden after the Republican member allegedly drank in his office then cursed at teenage interns at the Capitol.
Still, the speaker defended the Wisconsinite – telling reporters ‘that’s not the norm of Derrick Van Orden’ and adding he thought the incident was a ‘misunderstanding.’
McCarthy said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had spoken with him about the incident where Rep. Derrick Van Orden yelled at a group of Senate pages – high school interns who assist Senate operations.
In the early hours of Thursday morning Van Orden reportedly came across a group of Senate pages lying on the floor of the Capitol rotunda to get a picture of the room’s ornate dome ceiling.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he planned to talk with Rep. Derrick Van Orden after the Republican member allegedly drank in his office then cursed at teenage interns at the Capitol
Photo of Capitol rotunda ceiling
According to a transcript obtained by The Hill that a page had written down moments after the incident, Van Orden called the 16- and 17-year-olds ‘jacka**es’ and ‘pieces of s**t.’
‘Wake the f‑‑‑ up you little s‑‑‑‑. … What the f‑‑‑ are you all doing? Get the f‑‑‑ out of here. You are defiling the space you [pieces of s‑‑‑],’ Van Orden said, according to the account from the page.
‘Who the f‑‑‑ are you?’ Van Orden asked, to which one person responded they were Senate pages. ‘I don’t give a f‑‑‑ who you are, get out.’
‘You jackasses, get out,’ he added.
The incident occurred just after midnight.
Van Orden did not dispute the account – or apologize for it.
‘The Capitol Rotunda served as a field hospital where countless Union soldiers died fighting to free men in the Civil War. I have long said our nation’s Capitol is a symbol of the sacrifice our servicemen and women have made for this country and should never be treated like a frat house or common room,’ he said in a statement.
‘Threatening a congressman with bad press to excuse poor behavior is a reminder of everything that’s wrong with Washington. Luckily, bad press has never bothered me and if it’s the price I pay to stand up for what’s right, so be it.’
After the statement went out, Punchbowl News obtained a photo of Van Orden’s office showing the remnants of an evening of boozing – wine bottles set out on the table and cans in the recycling bin.
Van Orden’s communications director Anna Kelly said on Twitter the congressman and ex-Navy SEAL had been hosting a Wisconsin ‘beer and cheese tour’ with constituents.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a former chief of staff to Sen. Ted Cruz, poked fun at the incident on Twitter.
Schumer said he was ‘shocked’ at Orden’s refusal to apologize. Republican leader Mitch McConnell ‘everybody on this side of the aisle feels exactly the same way.’
Van Orden brushed off the criticism of the incident. ‘The people who have brought this up are not serious people. Let’s stop pretending like they are,’ he said during a radio appearance.
