Joy Reid Purposely Causes Tense Interview With Rep. Byron Donalds

MSNBC’s Joy Reid asked Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) if his Republican colleagues in the House nominated him for speaker last week as a “diversity statement.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) finally won the gavel early Saturday morning on the 15th ballot after a marathon week of voting. Numerous GOP holdouts voted “present” or for other candidates throughout the historic week as a faction of the party resisted McCarthy.

Donalds was among a handful of Republicans to be nominated numerous times and he received a small level of support.

On Tuesday’s edition of The ReidOut, Donalds joined the program in-studio to talk about the upcoming legislative term and was grilled by the host about his nomination.

“You have been in congress for one term,” Reid said in a hostile tone. “What were your qualifications to be speaker of the House?”

Donalds responded, “I think my colleagues recognize my leadership and have seen it in leaps and bounds.”