But the Iowa Republican is finding little support from his colleagues for the doomed mission, which comes nearly six months after King was kicked off the panels for making racist remarks.

“It was a political lynch mob. I had to let the blood cool,” King said in a rare interview Tuesday. “And the blood has now cooled, and now they don’t want to be faced with the reality of what they’ve done.”

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) briefly stood up during a Republican conference meeting on Tuesday morning to urge his colleagues to reinstate King on the House Agriculture and Judiciary committees. But not a single lawmaker clapped, cheered or remarked on the request, according to several sources in the room, and lawmakers quickly moved on to the next issue.