Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) unloaded on Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) Tuesday for immediately fundraising off of his campaign to oust now-former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R).
Gaetz claims he initiated a motion to vacate the chair because, in his view, McCarthy made promises to the Republican conference that he failed to keep. In the end, only seven of Gaetz’s Republican colleagues agreed with him, but that did not stop him from gloating about the ouster and using it to raise money.
During the chaos on the House floor Tuesday afternoon, Graves singled out Gaetz and spotlighted the Florida congressman’s fundraising push.
“I keep wondering what is going on? Are we redefining what ‘conservative’ is? What’s going on in this country today? What’s going on in this body?” Graves asked in a floor speech. “We have Freedom Works, Heritage, Chip Roy, and Jim Jordan say something is conservative, and [yet these eight Republicans] say it’s not, and they’re right?”
“And all of a sudden, my phone keeps sending text messages. Text messages saying, ‘Hey, give me money.’ Oh, look at that. ‘Give me money, I filed a motion to vacate.’ Using official actions to raise money,” Graves revealed.
“It’s disgusting. It’s what’s disgusting about Washington,” he declared.
Gaetz responded that he is not bothered by his Republican critics, claiming his decision to oust McCarthy was not self-serving.
“I take no lecture on asking patriotic Americans to weigh in and contribute to this fight from those who would grovel and bend knee for the lobbyists and special interests who own our leadership, who have hollowed out this town and have borrowed against the future of our future generations,” Gaetz said.
The irony of Gaetz leading the campaign against McCarthy is that five years ago, Gaetz resisted removing then-House Speaker Paul Ryan (R) over concerns that it would fracture the House Republican caucus.
“Here’s the problem: If we take Paul Ryan off the field right now, instead of being able to finish strong in 115th Congress, we will shatter into a bunch of factions fighting against each other for power,” Gaetz said in 2018. “We’ve got enough of that in Washington already. Paul Ryan can be a caretaker of the speakership. We can have a leadership election. We could go into the midterms strong. And I don’t think that pushing him out early if he doesn’t want to go is in any way advantageous.”
That same lawmaker is now being booed by his own colleagues for doing exactly what he once condemned.
JUST IN: Garrett Graves Calls Out Matt Gaetz For Fundraising Off Of Move To Oust Kevin McCarthywww.youtube.com
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