On Thursday morning, speaking with CNN’s Manu Raju, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy gave his thoughts on a video clip that went around showing Republican Rep. Gaetz heckling him on the floor of the Republican National Convention.
“He looks very unhinged,” McCarthy said about Gaetz, who led the successful effort to oust McCarthy from the speakership last fall. “I mean, a lot of people have concerns about him, and I'm not sure if he was on something, but I do hope he gets the help that he needs. But more importantly, I hope the young women get the justice they deserve when it comes to him.”
Oof!
Raju clarified for the audience that McCarthy was referring to the ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation into Gaetz’s alleged involvement in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a minor.
“Yeah, with his partner in jail because they paid underage women for sex and drugs,” McCarthy responded. “Yeah, that's what I'm saying.” Double wow.
McCarthy is referring to former Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg’s guilty plea on a collection of charges of election corruption, fraud, sex trafficking, and drugs. Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December 2022. But recently, the probe into Gaetz has heated up, with more evidence finding its way into the news media’s hands.
Raju pointed out that Gaetz has denied all of the allegations of impropriety against him and asked, “Doesn't he deserve the presumption of innocence here?”
“Well, people are in jail,” McCarthy answered. “The women have confirmed it.”
McCarthy went on to explain some of the saga between him and the Florida congressman. According to McCarthy, Gaetz blamed him for allowing the ethics probe to continue when McCarthy was speaker—something McCarthy says had begun well before he became speaker, and something he has argued he did not have the legal right to stop.
Gaetz then waged a divisive campaign, in public and private, against the former House Republican leader, inflaming the already-fractured nature of the GOP. Ultimately, Gaetz was successful in getting McCarthy ousted from the speakership.
To this day, McCarthy continues to go after Gaetz publicly—and politically. He has endorsed Gaetz’s Republican primary challenger, former naval pilot Aaron Dimmock. McCarthy has also made it a mission to go after the other seven GOP Congress members who voted to vacate his speakership.
Enjoy.
