The animosity between former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was on display again Tuesday, when the latter interrupted an interview between McCarthy and CNN on the floor of the Republican National Convention to mock him for not being a speaker at the event.
The pair have been sparring for more than a year. Gaetz told colleagues he led the effort to remove McCarthy as speaker last fall after the then-California congressman revived a House Ethics Committee investigation into sex trafficking allegations against him, The Daily Beast reported in January. McCarthy, for his part, has said Gaetz “belongs in jail” and told attendees at a Georgetown University event in April that he is no longer speaker because “someone wanted me to drop an ethics complaint about him sleeping with a 17-year-old.” That congressional investigation is ongoing. Federal prosecutors decided not to charge Gaetz in February 2023, and Gaetz has maintained his innocence.
It all came to a head during a hostile exchange in Milwaukee on Tuesday. While McCarthy was speaking to CNN's Kaitlan Collins, Gaetz came on screen and peppered McCarthy with rhetorical questions about when he would speak at the convention.
“What night are you speaking? Are you speaking tonight, or?” Gaetz began, a dig at McCarthy, who is not on the speaker list, while Gaetz is.
McCarthy, who didn't turn to look at Gaetz, replied, “He has an ethical grievance about paying for a criminal offense, which was sleeping with a 17-year-old.”
Gaetz shot back: “Hey, if you got on that stage, you'd get booed off the stage. You'd get booed off the stage.”
EXCLUSIVE: Congressman Matt Gaetz interrupts former Chairman Kevin McCarthy's interview on the floor of the RNC. Gaetz had to be physically restrained by security and said, “You'd be booed off the stage if you spoke” photo.twitter.com/unuY7kMib5
—Armstrong Williams 🇺🇸 (@Arightside) July 16, 2024
Then a man behind Gaetz, whose identity was not immediately clear, told him to shut up.
“Don't be an asshole,” he said, to which the MAGA congressman responded, “I don't even know who you are, man.”
“It doesn’t matter who I am,” the man replied. “Don’t be an asshole.”
Before Gaetz's interruption, McCarthy argued that the GOP was “more united” than in 2016.
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