Former House Speaker John Boehner accuses some in Congress of being “political terrorists”

Former Speaker of the House John Boehner accuses some members of Congress of being political terrorists, and shares his emotions about the attack on the Capitol, in his first television interview for his revealing new memoir, on “CBS Sunday Morning,” to be broadcast April 11.

Boehner said the insurrection on January 6th was the outgrowth of the political terrorism he saw as Speaker of the House, in an interview with John Dickerson for “Sunday Morning.” The 13-term Republican names a former colleague, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), as a prime example, along with Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas). However, the outspoken former politician, who resigned in 2015, stops short of blaming former President Donald Trump for inciting the January 6th attack, despite doing so in his book.

Below are some excerpts from the interview:

JOHN DICKERSON: “You call some of these members ‘political terrorists.'” 

JOHN BOEHNER: “Oh, yeah, Jim Jordan especially, my colleague from Ohio. I just never saw a guy who spent more time tearing things apart – never building anything, never putting anything together.” 

And here’s another excerpt of Boehner on Texas Senator Ted Cruz:

BOEHNER:  “I don’t beat anybody up, it’s – not really my style, except that jerk. … Perfect symbol, you know, of getting elected, make a lotta noise, draw a lot of attention to yourself, raise a lotta money, which means you’re gonna go make more noise, raise more money, and –  it’s really, it’s unfortunate.” 

In his memoir, “On the House: A Washington Memoir” (St. Martin’s Press), Boehner writes that Mr. Trump incited the insurrection “for nothing more than selfish reasons, perpetuated by the [expletive] he’s been shoveling since he lost a fair election the previous November.” However, when pressed during the interview for “Sunday Morning,” Boehner would not go that far with his language.

DICKERSON: “I think you’re ducking calling him a political terrorist. You’ve described in the book – I know why you’re doing it, but aren’t you – in doing it, aren’t you basically saying, ‘I don’t want the headache this is going to give me’?”

BOEHNER: “Listen, I, I, I’m not in office anymore. I don’t have to answer all the questions that I used to have to answer, right? And, and, while it isn’t my style, I don’t wanna use a pejorative term like that – talking about him or anybody else.”

Boehner and Dickerson also discuss how Congress has changed as a result of a group of extremists and how they threaten the health of the institution and the Republican Party, as well as how he is spending his time now that he is out of office.

The Emmy Award-winning “Sunday Morning” is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9 a.m. ET. “Sunday Morning” also streams on CBSN [beginning at 9 a.m. ET and 11:30 a.m. ET] and Paramount+, and is available on cbs.com and On Demand.

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For more info:

• “On the House: A Washington Memoir” by John Boehner (St. Martin’s Press), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available April 13 via Amazon and Indiebound