Kevin McCarthy lashed out at his congressional foe Matt Gaetz on Thursday, accusing the Florida Republican of being “psychotic” as he led efforts to oust him from the speaker’s seat.
Gaetz embarrassingly introduced a resolution to oust McCarthy as House speaker in October, a move the California Republican blamed on Gaetz’s personal hatred of him rather than policy or substantive differences.
“He’s psychotic,” McCarthy, who will officially retire at the end of the month, told reporters on his last day in Congress.
“People study that kind of crazy mind, don’t they?” he added. “Especially the FBI.”
McCarthy may be referring to a years-long sex-trafficking investigation into Gaetz by the Justice Department that ended in February without any charges being filed against the Sunshine State lawmaker.
Eight Republican House members, including Gaetz, voted with Democrats to remove McCarthy as speaker. Reuters
The investigation, which began in 2020, is based on Gaetz’s alleged relationship with a then-17-year-old girl and whether he paid her to travel across the state for sex years earlier. Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The House Ethics Committee, however, still has an open investigation into whether Gaez “engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illegal drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use and/or or accepting bribes, improper rewards, or unauthorized gifts.”
McCarthy has claimed that his refusal to intervene in the ethics investigation was the driving force behind Gaetz’s motion to vacate. Gaetz has denied the allegations.
The Florida Republican also dismissed McCarthy’s latest criticism, telling Mediaite: “Thoughts and prayers for the former congressman.”
“We have a process. He was ejected. He then chose to take his ball and go home, reducing our majority,” Gaetz added. “Kevin’s early departure shows it was all about personal power to him.”
McCarthy will retire from Congress at the end of this month. ZUMAPRESS.com
McCarthy, 58, announced his decision to retire in a Wall Street Journal op-ed earlier this month, in which he vowed to “continue to recruit our nation’s best and brightest to run for elected office.”
His departure would drop the Republican House majority to two votes, following the removal of former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) on Dec. 1.
House MPs take a break until the new year on Thursday.
McCarthy, who made history with the third-shortest speakership in US history, showed that he had no regrets about the policies he took in the speaker’s chair during his exit speech Thursday.
“I knew the day we decided to make sure to choose to pay our troops when the war broke out, instead of shutting down, was the right decision,” he reflected from the House floor. “I would do it all over again.”
McCarthy agreed to lower the threshold of members needed to introduce a motion to strip him of his gavel in January as a concession to conservatives opposed to his speakership.
Gaetz taunted McCarthy for weeks before his motion to vacate the seat, and on October 3, eight Republicans joined all Democrats in passing the resolution, which began a chaotic 21-day period without a permanent House speaker in place. .
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
