John Boehner said he once called Sean Hannity to tell him he was 'nuts'

Thomson Reuters

Former House Speaker John Boehner.

• Former House Speaker John Boehner said he once called up Sean Hannity and said, "Listen, you're nuts."
• The Republican speaker often clashed with the most conservative members of his party.

Former House Speaker John Boehner unloaded on conservative politicians and media figures in a Politico Magazine feature published over the weekend.

In one notable moment, the Ohio Republican, now two years removed from office, blamed radio personality Mark Levin for dragging two other commentators, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News host Sean Hannity, "to the dark side."

"I used to talk to them all the time. And suddenly they're beating the living s--- out of me," Boehner told Politico.

Boehner then shared an anecdote demonstrating just how strained his relationship with Hannity became.

"I had a conversation with Hannity, probably about the beginning of 2015. I called him and said, 'Listen, you're nuts.' We had this really blunt conversation," Boehner said. "Things were better for a few months, and then it got back to being the same old, same old. Because I wasn't going to be a right-wing idiot."

Boehner, who helmed the Republican House caucus for nine years, resigned in 2015 amid discord within the party. His last years in office were marked by friction with the most conservative members of the party, who orchestrated the government shutdown of 2013 and went on to form the conservative Freedom Caucus.