Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Renee Ellmers Deny Affair Allegations

Rep. Ellmers reportedly stood up to speak in an open-microphone portion of a closed-door House meeting being held the morning after McCarthy surprised the House, by taking his name out of contention to become the next speaker.

When Rep. Kevin McCarthy announced he was no longer running to become the next House Speaker, Washington was shocked and the Republican party was thrown into disarray. Despite those remarks, McCarthy was still considered a lock to win the Speaker race. He denied that the decision was in response to a letter from a lawmaker who asserted any candidate with embarrassing misdeeds in their past should withdraw. The Daily Caller noted a similar edit was made to McCarthy’s page, referencing a report by controversial conservative writer Charles Johnson on an alleged affair between the two.

Earlier Friday, POLITICO reported that Ellmers, in a private meeting of Republican legislators on Friday, addressed what she called the “nasty emails” and thanked them for their “prayers and support”, according to POLITICO, citing multiple unnamed sources who were in the room.

In January, Ellmers was effective in having GOP House leadership withdraw the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act – a measure that would ban abortions after the fifth month of pregnancy – as the annual March for Life gathered in Washington, D.C. She objected to rape-reporting language in the bill, even though it was the same language she voted for in 2013 when the bill passed the House. The website that is the source of the claim, Got News, were sent a “cease and desist” letter by Ellmer’s attorney.

The agency’s IP address is tied to edits on a number of other Wikipedia pages. Other edits were found on pages for a variety of movies and other miscellaneous topics, suggesting that edits could have been made by rank-and-file employees. The Department of Homeland Security has said it is looking into the edits.

“DHS has immediately launched an investigation into this serious matter”. “If it discovered that a DHS employee, using Government property, is responsible for these alleged actions, immediate and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken”.