Crenshaw apologizes for calling colleagues ‘terrorists’

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) on Sunday apologized for calling his fellow House GOP colleagues “terrorists” amid a tense election for Speaker.

“Look, things get heated and things get said. Obviously, to people who took offense by that, it’s pretty obvious that it’s meant as a turn of phrase,” Crenshaw told host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

The GOP lawmaker said he was “a little taken aback” by the “sensitivity” in the response to his comments, noting that he’s been “called awful, vile things by the very same wing of the party” that he was “fighting at that moment,” but underscored he was sorry for the quip.

“To the extent that I have colleagues that were offended by it, I sincerely apologize to them. I don’t want them to think I actually believe they’re terrorists. It’s clearly a turn of phrase that you use in what is an intransigent negotiation,” Crenshaw said.

Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) ultimately secured the Speakership after 15 rounds of voting, during which around 20 Republican holdouts forced the race into a stalemate, preventing McCarthy from hitting the majority threshold he needed.

Crenshaw last week said the hard-liners “are enemies now” and argued that “we cannot let the terrorists win.”