McCarthy Says Gaetz ‘Broke’ The Party

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) levied sharp criticism of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who he says “broke” the Republican Party. The former speaker’s comments came just a day after the contentious vote on several foreign aid packages, including one for Ukraine Gaetz strongly opposed.

McCarthy has built his criticism of Gaetz, who was one of the primary movers behind McCarthy’s ouster from the speakership last year. The GOP rebels voted alongside Democrats to oust McCarthy and leave the speaker’s chair vacant.

Gaetz and a group of GOP representatives also blocked McCarthy’s first attempts to become speaker at the beginning of last year.

McCarthy said that the House GOP caucus was in “disarray” and accused the “Gaetz Eight” of working with Democrats.

“But they work with all the Democrats to decide who could be speaker; and since then, what has transpired? So, the conference is broken because they never dealt with those eight, and until they do, it would stay broken,” he said.

McCarthy also accused Gaetz of sleeping with a minor amid an ethics investigation into the Florida representative.

“I’ll give you the truth why I’m not speaker. It’s because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old,” McCarthy said earlier this month.

Gaetz denies any wrongdoing and the House Ethics Committee’s investigation is ongoing.

Gaetz spoke out against the $61 billion aid package for Ukraine and said that the United States should stop funding the United Nations before it sent additional aid money to Israel.

The Florida Republican voted to replace McCarthy with current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) last year. Johnson received considerable criticism from some House Republicans for aiding the foreign aid packages, including from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Gaetz said earlier this month that Johnson “did not provide an improvement over Speaker Mccarthy on spending and foreign policy.”

Gaetz said that it remained “to be seen” whether Johnson should still be called “MAGA Mike Johnson,” as Gaetz called him last year.

Matt Gaetz, October 2023: "If you don't think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement and where the power in the Republican Party truly lies, then you're not paying attention."

Matt Gaetz, April 2024: https://t.co/rLy50BwQQP pic.twitter.com/mIE9Yi1lBW

— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) April 19, 2024