Metro

GOP leader Kevin McCarthy slams SI Rep. Max Rose over Trump impeachment

House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy accused first-term Staten Island Democratic Rep. Max Rose Wednesday of portraying President Trump as guilty until proven innocent amid the fight over impeachment.

McCarthy, during a speech on the House floor, singled out Rose for comments he made about Trump and impeachment to New York Magazine last October.

“We have a Congressman Max Rose, who characterized it this way. This new freshman of the majority,” McCarthy said.

“The president says he’s innocent. So all we’re saying is prove it,” McCarthy recounted, quoting Rose during an interview at Jody’s bar and restaurant, a famous watering hole on the island.

McCarthy said the House Democratic Majority and Rose rule under a “guilty until innocent mentality”, adding, “you’re guilty because they say so.”

The Trump impeachment case has been a vexing issue for Rose, a Democrat who represents a moderate-to-conservative leaning swing district.

In 2016, Trump won 57 percent of the vote against Hillary Clinton in the 11th congressional district that includes Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn that straddle the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

Rose initially opposed impeachment as counterproductive. But he changed his mind after seeing revelations about Trump’s handling of funding for Ukraine.

Even in the New York Magazine interview, Rose said he came to the conclusion to pursue impeachment reluctantly and complained Trump and his team had not cooperated with the probe.

McCarthy’s shot at Rose shows that Republicans are aiming to win back the Staten Island seat. Rose defeated GOP Congressman Dan Donovan during the 2018 midterm elections.

For his part, Rose dismissed McCarthy’s criticism.

“While I will always uphold my oath to the Constitution, the Minority Leader has shown himself to be nothing more than a sycophant,” Rose, an Army veteran, said in a statement.

“I don’t think he would know what it means to do what’s right even if it smacked him across the head with a 2×4.”