Pelosi calls McCarthy a ‘such moron’ for saying mask mandates are not based on science

Speaker’s response comes as the House reinstated a mask mandate

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called her Republican colleague Kevin McCarthy “such a moron” when she was asked about his opposition to a new mask mandate.

The House of Representatives moved to reinstate a mask mandate as concerns about the Delta variant of Covid-19 increase.

But the House minority leader criticised the speaker’s move to reinstate a mask mandate on the House side.

“Make no mistake – The threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state,” Mr McCarthy said.

Some members of Mr McCarthy’s party faced $500 fines for not wearing masks.

The news came as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday that fully vaccinated adults should continue to wear inside public areas where there is a high concentration of people with coronavirus.

A reporter asked Ms Pelosi on Wednesday morning about McCarthy’s comments.

“He’s such a moron,” she could be heard saying.

Tensions have been running high between the two House leaders since Mr McCarthy pulled all of his picks for the select committee to investigate the Capitol insurrection on 6 January in response to Ms Pelosi rejecting his nomination of Reps Jim Jordan and Jim Banks.

House Republicans already began pushing back on wearing masks.

“We gotta wear masks? In the peoples’ house while we got thousands of people pouring across our border and Democrats don’t do a darn thing about it,” Rep Chip Roy of Texas said on the House Floor, nothing that people crossing the border were infected with Covid-19. “We are absolutel sick and tired of it and so are the American people.”

Multiple reporters caught that Rep Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Colorado, threw a mask at a staffer.