McCarthy Spills Why He Thinks Matt Gaetz Ousted Him As House Speaker

Matt Vespa | October 04, 2023 8:00 AM

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has lost his job as House speaker. He’s still a member of Congress but won’t fight to get his leadership job back. He will let the gavel go to someone else after a motion to vacate passed 216-210 in the House on Tuesday. Eight Republicans colluded with Democrats to boot the California Republican out of the speaker’s office. The House GOP must find someone who can get 218 votes by next week.

McCarthy addressed the media Tuesday evening after a meeting with the caucus where he declared he would be stepping back. He also spilled why he felt Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who filed the motion, would execute this ploy to remove him. To McCarthy, this had nothing to do with the stopgap measure passed on September 30, which averted a government shutdown. It was the ethics investigation into Mr. Gaetz (via NY Post):

Woah. McCarthy seems to say ongoing Ethics Investigation into Gaetz drove decision to MTV: “Regardless of what you think, I’ve seen the texts. It was all about his Ethics, but that’s alright.”
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) October 3, 2023

MCCARTHY: "You all know Matt Gaetz. You know it was personal. It had nothing to do about spending. [...] Everything he accused somebody of, he was doing. It all was about getting attention from you."

"Regardless of what you think, I've seen the texts. It was all about his ethics… pic.twitter.com/QI6xoto6ls
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 4, 2023

The longstanding feud between Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) goes back much farther than Tuesday’s historic vote to unseat McCarthy as House speaker.
Gaetz has long been McCarthy’s loudest opponent — dramatically voting “present” rather than backing the California Republican’s bid for the gavel in January.
McCarthy has repeatedly claimed Gaetz has borne him a grudge for refusing his demand that McCarthy intervene in an ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation.
“He’s blaming me for an ethics complaint against him that happened in the last Congress. I have nothing to do with it,” McCarthy told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” just hours before he was voted out.
Gaetz, who is rumored to be eyeing a run for Florida governor in 2026, is being eyed by the ethics panel over allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and campaign finance violations as well as taking bribes.