Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reportedly accused former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) of fabricating an unreleased report about him that was compiled by the House Ethics Committee for President-elect Trump.
McCarthy has been accusing Gaetz of spearheading the effort to remove him as Speaker in October 2023 for months, alleging that McCarthy failed to halt Gaetz’s ethics investigation.
“No one thought that [the nomination] would pass. I blame Matt Gaetz for lying to the president about his ethics report. People know that. That’s why he made the motion against me. People know.” McCarthy said during a recent Fox News appearance.
Gaetz accused McCarthy of not exerting sufficient pressure to advance conservative objectives, such as expenditure reductions.
In the months that have followed, the two have frequently engaged in public criticism.
Some of the evidence and testimony that was purportedly on file with the committee was leaked, despite the fact that the ethics report remains under wraps due to Gaetz’s departure from Congress.
A counsel for two women stated that they informed the panel that they observed Gaetz “having sex with a minor” at a party.
McCarthy indicated last week that the former Florida representative was seeking an excuse to resign from Congress when he accepted Trump’s brief nomination to serve as his attorney general.
“That’s why he’s not capable of even staying in Congress. He needed an excuse to resign because the ethics report would be done in a couple of days. And that’s unfortunate. But it’s a better Congress today where they’re going forward.” McCarthy continued.
Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration a week later, amid indications that he would not receive the necessary votes in the Senate to be confirmed.
Last month, hard-line conservatives reached a provisional agreement with House Republicans to increase the threshold for a vote to remove the Speaker in exchange for concessions on rule changes.
This agreement provides Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) with additional protection from a “motion to vacate,” similar to the one that removed McCarthy.
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