Peter King: Boehner's Fall Result Of "People Like Ted Cruz" Who "Hijack And Blackmail The Party"

"He deserved better than this."

Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, says Tea Party Republicans like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are to blame for the resignation of House Speaker John Boehner.

"I think he could of been influenced by the pope being here yesterday and that it's just time to end the fighting that's gone on, the needless fighting that's gone on," King said to radio host John Grambling on Friday. "But having said that I'm disappointed. I think John was as good as a speaker that you could find and he's undermined by people in his own party from day one. It's truly tragic."

King singled out "people like" Cruz as the culprits of Boehner's demise.

"Yes. Yes, people like Ted Cruz, who believe in shutting down the government, want to shutdown the Department of Homeland of Security at a time when the ISIS has been highest," added King, saying Boehner couldn't get much done because there was a Democratic president and a Democratic Senate.

"Whenever the tough decisions had to be made, John made them," said King. "And at every stage though, he was undercut by people in his own party. And there's 40 or 50 and that's it. A small minority, but they were willing to hijack and blackmail the party."

King said California Rep. Kevin McCarthy would probably be speaker, but "the Ted Cruz-people" would push for an ally as Majority Leader. King said he found it "really offensive" there was a push to remove Boehner.

"He deserved better than this," added King. "I feel kinda bad for him. He's probably better off."

The Long Island Republican, who earlier called Boehner's resignation a "victory for the crazies" on social media, said those who opposed Boehner had unrealistic expectations.

"I mean seriously they basically want to shut the government down over the whole issue of Planned Parenthood," King said. "The National Right to Life Committee and the most pro-life members of Congress say that shutting down the government would not advance the cause of the anti-abortion movement whatsoever."

"But these guys have latched onto that as a reason to, they were going to basically attempt to remove the speaker if he was not able to get Planned Parenthood defunded even though the president would veto the bill and the Senate would not be able to pass it and that in that case we should shut the government down."

"And that's why I said it was a victory for the crazies," he concluded.

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