Gaetz Vows Move To Remove McCarthy This Week
A motion is coming to vacate the Speakership of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). That’s the word from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), whose feud with the Speaker of the House intensified Sunday.
Gaetz told CNN’s “State of the Union” that he will offer the motion this week. His pledge came in response to host Jake Tapper directly asking him if such an action was coming.
Gaetz confirmed his intention. “Speaker McCarthy made an agreement with House conservatives in January, and since then he has been in brazen, repeated material breach of that agreement. He called working with Democrats to avoid the government shutdown “the last straw.”
The lawmaker further told Tapper that he learned over the weekend that McCarthy had a “secret deal with Democrats on Ukraine.”
When asked to confirm the pending motion to vacate, Gaetz did so. He said the band-aid needs to be ripped off and that “no one trusts McCarthy.”
He accused the Speaker of lying to President Joe Biden and then lying to House conservatives.
The arrows between Gaetz and McCarthy were flying back and forth in recent weeks. It was widely reported that the Florida congressman confronted the Speaker in a closed-door Republican conference meeting Thursday morning.
A source told Fox News that “fireworks” erupted when Gaetz stood and accused McCarthy of orchestrating an online attack against him. He declared that “MAGA influencers” were paid to go after him on social media platforms.
The source said McCarthy dismissed Gaetz by claiming he would not “waste his time” in that manner.
The Speaker retorted that he was about to spend Friday disbursing $5 million to GOP candidates “to expand our majority.” He then asked what the representative was doing to benefit Republicans.
Gaetz apparently confirmed the confrontation to reporters after the meeting. He said he asked McCarthy if he was paying influencers to post negative comments about him on social media, which the Speaker denied.
A McCarthy spokesperson told Fox News Digital that he had “absolutely no role” in the campaign Gaetz alleged was ongoing. They confirmed that evidence pointed to a company supported by Democrats, and a cease-and-desist email was sent to the alleged organizers.
