If you thought congressional Republicans were maybe a little bit uncontrollable, as evidence by this latest threat of yet another government shutdown, well, you ain't seen nothing yet. Today brought actual Republican-on-Republican physical violence on the House side. And in the other Capitol chamber, a Republican Senator threatened physical violence against a witness during a hearing. Not a spoof, not a satire, not news reporters taking lighthearted moments and twisting them for our own nefarious ends. I'm dead serious here. Let's start with what happened in the supposedly more gentlemanly Senate, where the fisticuffs were only theoretical and the assault did not become actual battery. In the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, chaired by Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, there was a hearing today called Standing Up Against Corporate Greed: How Unions Are Improving the Lives of Working Families. In that hearing, Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma read a tweet from June, a tweet written by International Brotherhood of Teamster's general President, Sean O'Brien, a tweet that said this. I said.

Greedy CEO who pretends like he's self-made. What a clown.

Fraud.

Always has been, always will be. Quit the tough guy act and these Senate hearings. You know where to find me. Any place, any place, anytime, cowboy. Sir, this is a time, this is a place. If you want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults. We can finish it here.

Okay, that's fine. Perfect.

You want to do it now? I'd love to do it right now. Well, stand your butt up then.

You stand your butt up.

Hold on. Stop it.

Is that your solution? No, no. Sit down. No, you're a United States senator.

Now to the House, where Republican congressman Tim Parchett said, and at least one reporter witnessed with her own eyes former House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, elbowing Parchett in the back, right in the kidneys, he said. Recall, Birchette was one of eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy from the Speaker's chair.

There was a clean shot to the kidneys, and I turned back and there was Kevin. He's a bully with $17 million in a security detail. He's the type of guy that, when you're a kid, would throw a rock over the fence and run home and hide behind his mama's skirt.

Mccarthy, who we should know has lied about plenty of other things, like for instance, the 2020 election, denied shoving or elbowing Borchette. It also just so happens that former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger, in his brand new book writes that he too was pushed twice by McCarthy. What on earth is going on up there? Let's bring in CNN's Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. Manu, the dysfunction among House Republicans has been apparent to us for quite some time. Even on this day that the House is supposed to unite and vote to avoid a government shutdown, but physical violence and from a former Speaker.

No less? Yeah, this is all quite a scene, Jake. And after the unprecedented vote to push out Kevin McCarthy more than a month ago, but the tension still remained, and Kevin McCarthy feels he was treated unfairly. He even told me just in a few days ago that he believes Congresswoman Tim Perchett in particular was someone he was surprised at that voted him out and said that Perchett is interested only in press, which is why he believes he had done just that. Well, McCarthy responded to the allegation that Perchett made that he essentially sucker punched him in the kidneys from behind and walked away. He said that that did not happen that way. In fact, McCarthy tried to make the case that this was a narrow hallway in the capital that he may have accidentally grazed him and continued to walk along the way. And he didn't understand why Perchett was so mad, claiming none of it was intentional.

If I hit somebody, they would know I hit him. I did not elbow him. No, I would not elbow him. I would not hit him in the kidney. Hc5, you're all down there, right? Not a very big hallway.

And then I asked him about the claim from Tim Bertrand that he was still in pain. Berget told me moments afterwards that he was in pain still from that alleged hit in his kidneys. Essentially, McCarthy did, strugged it off, said, Oh, come on, if he wants, bring a trial lawyer. Also, Jake, Matt Gates, who led the charge to push out Kevin McCarthy, plans to file an ethics complaint to force an investigation. Mccarthy also brushed that off and said, Matt Gates, that's one place he belongs to be, and the Ethics Committee.

We should note that our colleague, Breonna Keeler, asked Republican Congressman Ken Buck about McCarthy denying this. Ken Buck, Congressman Ken Buck, a Republican said, Kevin McCarthy and lying is like peanut butter and jelly. Now, about the near blows that erupted during that Senate hearing of all places, what does Mark Wayne Mullen? What does Senator Mullen have to say about that?

Well, he doesn't regret it at all. In fact, that is the exact question I put to him. Do you regret this? You're a United States Senator. He said that he called me out. I was just answering the call. Don't say something. You're not going to back up. He said that I said, Well, you're a Senator. He said he's a President of a Union. I'm still a guy from Oklahoma. He made clear that he was defiant in comments he made to our colleague, Sam Fossil. You don't do that.

No time. You don't run your mouth unless you're going to answer the call. I didn't start it. I didn't tweet at him. I didn't go after him. I have no beef with a guy.

He went on to say that he has not spoken to Republican leadership about this yet. Mitch McConnell, the Senate GOP leader, was asked about these episodes. He said, I don't view that as my responsibility to deal with these. He said, That's something the Capitol Police will have to deal with. Jake.

Yeah, I think the issue, though, of course, doing it in the Senate during a Senate hearing, right? It's not so much responding to the Union President. It's where he did it, right?

Yeah, absolutely. And he says that he was raised differently, Jake. That is his explanation for why he said they said, We settled things differently where I'm from in Oklahoma. So he is not regretting what he said at all, Jake.

Okay, Manoraja, we're going to come back to you. This big House vote coming this hour that's much more important than all these shenanigans. Thanks so much. But let's talk about these shenanigans. Sean O'Brien, President of that union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, is here. And Sean, I have to say, I'm sure you're plenty strong, but Mark Wayne Mullen is a former professional MMA fighter. What went through your mind when he basically challenged you to a physical fight during a Senate hearing?

Yeah, what went through my mind was, you're one of a hundred of the most powerful people in the country, and you're acting like a twelve-year-old in a schoolyard because you didn't get your way. I mean, look, he actually has the ability, and he's 100 of the elite, to actually effectuate change in this country, and he's focused on being a bully. We're not going to stand for it. And we definitely were brought up differently.

Okay, but can I say you're tweeting like a twelve-year-old. I mean, your tweets were... You're not a United States Senator, okay? And I get that your tweeting is not the same thing as calling somebody out during a Senate hearing. But you know where to find me any place, any time, cowboy. You're making fun of him for not being the tallest Senator. I mean, you represent 1.3 million workers. Do you really think that tweet — there's a tweet right there with your pink circling of the apple box he's standing on — do you really think that that is best serving, best representing the members of the TeamStars Union.

His story is compelling but inaccurate. And in a hearing in March, he started the whole thing by coming into a hearing, looking at us and basically saying to me, I'm not afraid of physical confrontation. As a matter of fact, I welcome it. So that's what perpetuated the whole incident. Never knew the man in my life, never met him. I was testifying in my first Senate hearing, and that was his first introduction to me.

And you were at the hearing today, Bernie Sanders's hearing, which is about how unions improve the lives of workers. Are you afraid that that message was lost.

Because of this? Not at all. We had some great dialog in there about issues that affect working people, about organizing, collective bargaining, unionizing America. There was a lot of different opinions, a lot of different debate. It was great until Mark Wayne Mullen, obviously, we were renting space in his head, decided to erupt. We do have a lot of differences of opinions on both sides. But the one thing that's clear is that today's dialog outside of what happened was fruitful, productive. And the one thing we've been doing as a team, St. Union, I do represent 1.3 million members, and I do it in the best interest of my members, we've been reaching across the aisle to find common ground and issues that can help working people throughout America, and we're going to continue to do that. And unfortunately, today, Mark chose to not act like a US Senator, and he's going to have to pay the consequences for that.

What's the best thing the Teamsters is fighting for its union members right now? What's the thing you're proudest of right now that you're fighting.

For right now? We are fighting corporate America. We are closing the gap between CEO greed and what our members are getting in their contracts. Ups is a prime example. We got a $30 billion contract, the highest contract ever at UPS, and we are starting to take back what we've invested. Think about how important Teams does were essential workers providing goods and services during the pandemic.

All right, John O'Brien, good to see you. Great. Thank you. I wouldn't want to mess with either you or Senator Mullen. To be quite honest, I appreciate you being here.

Thank you very much, sir.