On Sunday, House Republican lawmakers have been looking for ways to remove Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz as he leads an effort to topple House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
According to Fox News, House Republicans are concerned with Gaetz after he launched another plan to oust McCarthy. One anonymous lawmaker revealed that no one can stand Gaetz right now; however, a two-thirds majority vote would be needed to expel him. This can be a tough task as Republican majorities currently stand by a thin margin.
On CNN’s State of the Union, Gaetz reiterated his stance, claiming the House needs new leadership that can be trusted. According to the Florida Republican, everyone has one thing in common, nobody trusts Kevin McCarthy. “He lied to Biden. He lied to House conservatives,” he added.
Gaetz accuses McCarthy of breaking his word on government spending
Gaetz accused McCarthy of breaking his word on government spending, an allegation the House Minority Leader denies. Meanwhile, when the CNN host Jake Tapper showed personal communication to the Republican congressman from Florida in which he blamed McCarthy for his ethics investigation, Gaetz did not budge. According to him, when McCarthy said publicly that ethics issues is the primary concern, that was him gaslighting the ethics committee.
Is the fight between Gaetz and McCarthy getting more personal?
Tapper, however, asserted that this probably has more to do with personal issues between Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy than those are being publicized. “When Kevin McCarthy went out publicly and said, this isn’t about me breaking my word, it’s because Gaetz has ethics problems; certainly, that was him gaslighting the ethics committee,” responded Gaetz.
After blaming him for the ethics investigation, Randy Clarke of Florida claimed that negative experiences in the past had made the congressman change his mind about trusting McCarthy’s leadership. However, Gaetz denied that saying that the tiff between them is more about following the rules and regulations but not personal issues.
“It’s not about any personal animus,” Gaetz added, according to ABC producer and reporter Ben Siegel. If Kevin McCarthy did not want to keep the deal to return to pre-COVID spending, in which each dollar spent has a different bill, rather than money and goals, then he should not have made that deal. So this is about keeping Kevin McCarthy to his word, emphasized Gaetz
House Ethics Committee investigation in progress after allegations last year
The House Ethics Committee began its investigation last year after some allegations began to circulate, including campaign finance violations, and allegations of taking bribes and using drugs. However, the Florida Republican Congress denied these allegations. Regarding new Justice Department probes involving underage girls, the congressman has never participated in illegal proceedings. According to Gaetz, this investigation is only in progress and evidence collection phase, where he claims that he will have the last laugh when the results are out.
