On Thursday, Representative-elect Troy Nehls (R-Texas) was interviewed on CNN for the first time. While discussing the drama over the Speaker of the House vote, he got into a heated exchange with CNN anchor Erin Burnett.

Rep. Troy Nehls on CNN

During the interview, Nehls was asked by Burnett if the was prepared to continue the battle over House speaker through the night, to which he replied, “I’m a combat veteran, served in law enforcement for 30 years… I can be here till July.”

Burnett then asked Nehls if there was anything that could “break or shake” his support for McCarthy.

He said, “Listen, I don’t know if you’re aware of, young lady, but I am also a member of the House Freedom Caucus. So I am one of those America First patriots. And I have said to my friends, my colleagues in the Freedom Caucus, that I don’t believe that this is the battle we should be waging. I think the real battle starts when we start drafting legislation and policy in the 118th Congress under a Speaker McCarthy.”

“And you have to understand, your viewers have to understand there’s 35 to 40 of us in the House Freedom Caucus,” continued Nehls. “If we have a simple, small, thin margin of 222 Republicans, it takes 218 of us to pass any legislation, right? The House Freedom Caucus is more relevant than ever. So I believe that is the battle – those are the conversations that should take place, because Kevin McCarthy understands that in order for him to pass anything in this 118th Congress, he’s going to need support and the endorsement from the House Freedom Caucus. And that’s when I believe we should have these conversations.”

Ignoring Nehls’s response, Burnett decided to point out that she took offense to being called “young lady,” saying, “I’ll assume when you called me a ‘young lady’ it was a compliment.”

“Of course it was,” said Nehls. “This is my first time on the Clinton News Network. Absolutely.”

“Okay, that, I will say was a bit, in my opinion, rude,” Burnett replied, and then moved on to her next question.

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