Republican Rep. Nancy Mace slam Matt Gaetz over ‘allegations he sex trafficked minors’
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Republican Rep. Nancy Mace said Rep. Matt Gaetz repeatedly blocked Kevin McCarthy from becoming House speaker because he was angry that McCarthy failed to defend him over the sex trafficking allegations.
In a blistering tweet Sunday afternoon, Mace said that “as a rape victim myself” I would not “stand up for the indefensible.”
Mace was referring to the revelation that Gaetz was the subject of a federal investigation for trafficking a 17-year-old girl for sexual purposes. The Florida congressman denied the allegations and was never charged, but he reportedly bristled that McCarthy did not come to his defense.
It has been speculated that Gaetz’s anger at McCarthy over the incident contributed to his repeated votes against the new House speaker last week.
Gaetz was the subject of a federal investigation that accused him of trafficking a 17-year-old girl for sexual purposes. The Florida congressman denied the allegations and was never charged, but he reportedly bristled that McCarthy did not come to his defense.
South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace denounced the “backroom deals” that were made to get Kevin McCarthy’s hammer, though she was among the more than 200 members who supported him all along.
“If you think patriotism is sending a fundraising email every time you voted against McCarthy because McCarthy wouldn’t defend allegations that he sex-trafficked minors, then our definition of patriotism is very different,” Mace tweeted Sunday. .
His comments came after he appeared on CBS News’ Face The Nation, comparing his party’s four-day public battle for the House presidency to a “food fight” on Sunday and saying his South Carolina constituents South are not happy with the long delay.
“I represent a very purple district,” Mace said. “I have all the sides to serve, and there was a lot of frustration with the long and unnecessary food fight we had this week.”
But you saw democracy on full display. And I think it’s healthy to have that kind of discussion. I’m glad it’s over and we can move on.
Mace, who supported new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, criticized “backroom deals” made between the leader’s allies and reluctant conservatives to get him to the finish line on the 15th ballot.
The Republican lawmaker from South Carolina also didn’t hold back on the people who made those deals, nor did she forgive other controversial members of her conference.
Matt Gaetz is a fraud. Every time he voted against Kevin McCarthy last week, he sent out a fundraising email,” Mace fumed.
‘What you saw last week was a constitutional process diminished by this type of political action. I don’t support that kind of behavior.
Mace was also asked about freshman Republican Rep. George Santos of New York, who has been facing calls from opponents and constituents to resign after he admitted to lying about his employment, education and Jewish heritage.
She did not say whether she would join the calls for Santos’ removal, but Mace bluntly said his falsehoods were a “problem.”
“It’s very difficult to work with someone who can’t be trusted, and it’s very clear that his entire resume in life was fabricated until a couple of days ago when he finally changed his website,” Mace said.
‘It’s a problem. If we say we can’t trust the left when it tells the truth, how can we trust ours?
He singled out Rep. Matt Gaetz, one of McCarthy’s biggest critics (pictured speaking with McCarthy on the House floor Jan. 6), as a “fraud.”
Unrelated to McCarthy’s reluctance, Mace also said it would be hard to trust someone like New York Rep. George Santos, who has misrepresented parts of his backstory.
Santos had been a McCarthy supporter during all 15 rounds of voting. He announced Saturday that he, too, would vote “yes” on the House rules package, to which McCarthy made last-minute concessions last week to secure the final votes needed to win the office of speaker.
However, Mace said she was “undecided” not because of the contents of the package, but because of how the deals were reached.
In fact, the congresswoman noted that there wasn’t much difference between the new package, touted as a victory for the hawkish right, and her previous version, except for the threshold to trigger a vote to remove McCarthy as president which was lowered to one legislator. .
‘I like the rule pack. It is the most open, fair and fiscally conservative package we have had in 30 years,” Mace said.
In the end, McCarthy narrowly won the presidency with 216 votes early Saturday morning.
I do support it, but what I don’t support is a small number of people trying to reach an agreement or make agreements for themselves in private, in secret to get a vote or vote present. I don’t support that. That is exactly what Nancy Pelosi does.
She pressed Pelosi’s comparison multiple times, claiming that holdout finalists like Reps. Gaetz, Eli Crane and Matt Rosendale who held up the votes had acted “just like” the former Democratic House speaker.
“What I saw last week was a small faction of the 20, acting like old Nancy, trying to cut secret deals in private, in secret, with no one knowing what else was going on,” Mace said.
‘And when they did the rules package, at the end of the day, only one point was changed. That was on the motion to evict.
‘That was the only difference in the package that we are going to vote on tomorrow that was different from the original package that was proposed. So my question really is today: what backroom deals did they get done? Did they try to shut them down?