Alaska News

Don Young barrels through CNN interview, becomes Twitter favorite

Alaska Rep. Don Young barreled through a live CNN interview and straight into Twitter fame Thursday following the House meeting where Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-California, announced that he's out of the running for Speaker of the House.

In the crowded hallway outside the meeting, Young inadvertently pushed his way on camera and through a live CNN interview with Rep. Peter King, R-New York, hollering, "Move it. Out of the way," at the gathering scrum of reporters, and, as it turns out, his Republican colleague.

On-site reporters delighted in the move, declaring it a "tremendous Don Young cameo," and "Classic Rep Don Young," among other reviews.

The moment was quickly set to music including early iterations featuring Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball," and Ludacris' "Move Bitch (Get out the way)."

"No one puts Don Young in a corner," a CNN associate producer commented.

Perhaps the apex: Young was touted as the "easy" winner of a "fight to the death" to determine the new speaker of the House.

Young spoke to Alaska Dispatch News after the Thursday meeting and lamented the current state of House politics.

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Young's spokesman Matt Shuckerow noted that all 257 Republican members of the House "were leaving the Capitol at the same time," after the meeting, and "both exits are blocked by reporters." Young was in a hurry to get to the House floor, he said.

Young was not immediately available for comment, as he was on the House floor managing a vote on his bill, the Native American Energy Act.

Erica Martinson

Erica Martinson is Alaska Dispatch News' Washington, DC reporter, and she covers the legislation, regulation and litigation that impact the Last Frontier.  Erica came to ADN after years as a reporter covering energy at POLITICO. Before that, she covered environmental policy at a DC trade publication and worked at several New York dailies.

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