Politics
Posted by Charlie Kirk Staff - 10.20.23

McCarthy, Republican Lawmakers Shout Down Matt Gaetz During Closed-Door Conference Meeting

McCarthy, Republican Lawmakers Shout Down Matt Gaetz During Closed-Door Conference Meeting

Politics
Posted by Charlie Kirk Staff - 10.20.23

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and many members of the GOP caucus reportedly shouted down Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) during a closed-door session on Thursday after he tried to interrupt the California Republican at the mic.

Axios Capitol Hill reporter Juliegrace Brufke noted on the X platform on Thursday, “Per a source in the room, McCarthy screamed at Matt Gaetz to sit down when he went to the mics, with the source saying Rep. Bost ‘almost lunging at him.’”

Rep. Mike Bost is a GOP lawmaker from Illinois.

“McCarthy advocated for empowering McHenry while Jordan stayed on as speaker designee, per two sources,” she added.

Following the incident, Gaetz was asked by an MSNBC reporter about how “icy” it got for him during the conference meeting.

“I’m not for everyone, as it turns out, and I have my detractors, but I’m an attorney by trade,” he said. “I don’t get emotional about the presentation of arguments, listening to other people’s arguments, that doesn’t affect how I think about people.

“I was there to make the substantive argument that ‘Speaker light’ is a bad idea, just like Bud Light,” he added. “I prefer for us to continue having votes, going forward, and you know, when I held out with Speaker McCarthy, we had goals. We had specific things we were fighting for. I think a reasonable question to those holding out and not voting for [Rep. Jim] Jordan [R-Ohio] is, ‘What are you fighting for? What are your goals? What are your objectives other than just recalcitrance?’”

McCarthy also confirmed the incident.

“I was at the mic, I was speaking, and Matt Gaetz tried to interrupt essentially, and I told him to sit down, and he sat down,” the California Republican began.

When asked whether he “screamed” at the Florida Republican, McCarthy said, “I think the entire conference screamed at him.”

“Listen, the whole country, I think, would scream at Matt Gaetz right now,” he added. “Remember that the Crazy 8’s under the leadership of Matt Gaetz and every single Democrat were responsible for getting us into this situation. We’ve never been in this situation before. But how do you have 4 percent of your conference remove a Speaker when 96 percent are there? This is why we’re here. He had no plan afterwards.”

“It’s a difficult situation driven by one person for his own personal beliefs, his own animosity towards me, and his concern about what’s inside an ethics complaint that was filed before I was even Speaker,” McCarthy added.

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