Heated moment Matt Gaetz confronts Kevin McCarthy and tells him he would be ‘booed’ on stage in clash on the convention floor
Conservatives had hoped to put on a show of unity at the Republican National Convention. But at one point, old divisions flared up when Matt Gaetz challenged Kevin McCarthy on the floor while he was being interviewed.
“What night are you speaking? If you went up on that stage, you’d be booed off the stage. You’d be booed off the stage!” Gaetz grinned at the California Republican.
His assistant tweeted a clip of the meeting.
Gaetz and McCarthy have a long history of sparring.
The Florida agitator filed a motion to have McCarthy removed, resulting in him losing the job he had worked for his entire career.
Conservatives had hoped to put on a show of unity at their Republican National Convention — except for one moment
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., mocked former Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the convention floor Tuesday when he gave an interview
McCarthy said in April that he lost his job because he refused to help Rep. Matt Gaetz cover up his “sex with a 17-year-old.”
“I’ll tell you the truth about why I’m not president,” McCarthy said during a lecture at Georgetown University titled “How Strong Is Our Democracy?”
“It’s because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to drop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old,” the California Republican continued. “Did he do it or didn’t he? I don’t know.”
McCarthy has long accused Gaetz of filing the historic motion to remove him from the chairmanship last year amid an ongoing ethics investigation into his conduct.
Gaetz fired back at the speaker’s accusation on X: “Kevin McCarthy is a liar. That’s why he’s not speaker anymore. Just ask the 224 people who voted to remove him.”
In February, McCarthy suggested that the married Gaetz “lies about who he sleeps with.”
The House Committee on Ethics first opened an investigation into Gaetz in April 2021, but paused it while the Justice Department launched its own investigation into the member.
Gaetz confronted McCarthy while giving an interview on live TV
Gaetz and McCarthy have a long history of sparring
“What night are you speaking? If you got on that stage, you’d be booed off the stage. You’d be booed off the stage!” Gaetz grinned at the California Republican
The Florida rioter filed a motion to vacate office, resulting in McCarthy losing the job he had worked for his entire career
The Justice Department ultimately decided not to charge Gaetz.
However, the House of Representatives Committee on Ethics has reopened its investigation into the Florida case.
Additionally, recently reported text messages reveal that Gaetz had paid a young woman, for whom his now-jailed friend Joel Greenberg, for sex, to join him on a three-day excursion to the Florida Keys.
The messages, ABC News reports, were allegedly spread in May 2017, months after the Florida Republican was sworn in.
Detailed texts sent to the newspaper show Gaetz asking the woman to fly on a private jet and join him, another woman and three other men in the Keys.
McCarthy is the only speaker to ever lose the gavel in Congress mid-term. He subsequently left the House and has not since imposed any restrictions on the eight Republicans who voted to impeach him.