McCarthy to give prebuttal to Biden in Scranton speech

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will counter a planned prime-time address from President Biden on Thursday with a speech ahead of time — in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pa. 

McCarthy, who has traveled the country campaigning with and fundraising for Republican House candidates during the August House recess, will “talk about what he has heard from the American people this summer regarding rising crime, record high inflation and other hardships brought on by the Democrats’ harmful policies,” according to a release announcing the speech.

The event will also feature Jim Bognet, the Republican challenging incumbent Rep. Matt Cartwright (D) in Pennsylvania’s competitive 8th Congressional District. 

The release from McCarthy accused Biden of planning to use his speech to “disparage hard working Americans and offer no plan to turn our country around from the disaster Democrats have created.” In a spin on Biden’s 2020 campaign theme of a “battle for the soul of the nation,” the release said McCarthy will respond to “Biden’s Assault on the Soul of America.”

Biden’s Thursday evening address, which he will deliver from Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, will cover “how the core values of this nation — our standing in the world, our democracy — are at stake,” according to a White House official. 

The president has been increasingly critical of Republicans as campaign season kicks into full gear, saying in a fundraiser last week that the “extreme MAGA philosophy” in the wing of the party aligned with former President Trump is “like semi-fascism.”

McCarthy’s visit to Scranton on Thursday will come after Biden traveled to nearby Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on Tuesday, where he criticized Republican members of Congress over Jan. 6 and criticism of the FBI.

“Let me say this to my MAGA Republican friends in Congress: Don’t tell me you support law enforcement if you won’t condemn what happened on the 6th. Don’t tell me. Can’t do it. For God’s sake, whose side are you on?” Biden said.

He added that it is “sickening to see the new attacks on the FBI” in light of a search warrant being executed at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an investigation of his handling of presidential records and classified documents.