WASHINGTON — Kevin McCarthy chose his favorite spot in the United States Capitol for his first news conference as speaker of the House: in front of a tile marking where Abraham Lincoln sat.
Alone at night sometimes, the California Republican said after claiming the speaker’s gavel, he puts himself in the spot Lincoln once sat as a one-term congressman and looks up at the clock in Statuary Hall, where the House of Representatives used to meet.
“That’s the same clock and same view that Abraham Lincoln saw,” he said in his speech. His office did not respond to four requests for comment.