CNN’s Jake Tapper confronted Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) over the weekend about whether his “personal animus” against House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was behind his drive to oust him from his position.
Gaetz said during interviews on Sunday that he intends to file a motion to remove McCarthy as speaker because he claims that McCarthy — who has had to operate with a razor-thin majority — did not keep his word with some House conservatives.
CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Gaetz on “State of the Union” what his motivation was for trying to give McCarthy the boot.
“Last question for you, because the reason you talk about this being about the issue and not animus, because there are a lot of people, a lot of House Republicans who think that there is this personal animus between you and Speaker McCarthy,” Tapper said. “And I just have to ask you, how much do you blame Speaker McCarthy for the fact that you are under investigation by the House Ethics Committee? How much is that part of what’s going on here?”
Gaetz responded: “Not at all.”
“Jake, I am the most investigated man in the United States Congress,” Gaetz continued. “I have been cleared by the DOJ, the FEC by a 5-0 vote. And the people who spread criminal lies about me are sitting in federal prison right now. So, I’m fine being investigated by anyone and everyone.”
Tapper then said he had “seen personal communications between you and other people in which you blame McCarthy for your ethics investigation.”
Gaetz responded that he made those remarks after McCarthy publicly stated that he believed Gaetz was seeking to remove him because of the House Ethics investigation.
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“But here’s the thing, Jake, I’m not alone,” Gaetz said. “People can say this is a party of one. I have tens of millions of Americans who stand with me on this. And I have a requisite number of House Republicans, a sufficient number, to ensure that we don’t own Kevin McCarthy anymore.”
“By week’s end, he will either not be speaker or he will be speaker serving at the pleasure of House Democrats,” he concluded.
WATCH:
CNN’s Jake Tapper confronts Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) about his “personal animus” toward House Speaker Kevin McCarthy pic.twitter.com/avi0daJFUJ
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) October 1, 2023