Report: Renee Ellmers Thanks Colleagues for ‘Prayers and Support’ in Wake of Affair Rumors

With unseemly rumors swirling about an alleged affair between Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Ellmers reportedly thanked her colleagues for their “prayers and support” during a closed-door meeting Friday.

Politico reports that in the private Republican meeting, Ellmers offered lawmakers thanks for their support after they received “nasty emails” accusing McCarthy and Ellmers of engaging in an extramarital affair.

Blair Ellis, an Ellmers spokeswoman, told Politico that the North Carolinian “thanked members for prayers and support as a result of the nasty and malicious emails being circulated by outsiders.”

According to the report, Ellmers did not speak about the content of the emails or name McCarthy, and sources close to Ellmers and McCarthy have denied such an affair.

McCarthy, who abruptly dropped out of the race for House Speaker, denied Thursday that his decision to drop out had to do with a letter Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) sent to the House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers urging leadership candidates to withdraw if they had committed embarrassing “misdeeds.”

2.50 p.m. update;

Rep. Ellmer’s office released a statement saying “As someone who has been targeted by completely false accusations and innuendo, I have been moved by the outpouring of support and prayers from my colleagues, constituents and friends. Now I will be praying for those who find it acceptable to bear false witness.”