Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) took his latest jab at Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), claiming the Florida lawmaker “seems very upset” after insulting the former president on the floor of the National Convention Republican this week.
“He seems very distraught. I mean, a lot of people are worried about this. And I’m not sure if he was doing anything, but I hope he gets the help he needs,” McCarthy said. said CNN’s Manu Raju on Thursday.
“But most importantly, I hope young women get the justice they deserve when it comes to him,” McCarthy added, alluding to the sexual assault allegations against Gaetz.
“I was on something — the stage,” Gaetz said in response to McCarthy in a statement Thursday to The Hill.
McCarthy’s comments were in response to a video of Gaetz on the convention floor Tuesday, during which he provocatively asked McCarthy when he should speak.
“What night are you going to speak? Will you speak tonight? Gaetz, who spoke at the convention on Wednesday, had previously asked McCarthy mockingly.
“If you stood on that stage, you would be booed,” he told McCarthy. “You would be booed off the stage.”
Gaetz later defended his comments in a brief interview with The Hill, saying he was fighting back.
“He was saying something very false and nasty about me to CNN. So this is a convention floor. I thought it would be okay to get together a little bit,” Gaetz said.
The back and forth follows a long-running rivalry between the two Republicans. Gaetz was the main force in removing McCarthy from office last October, after rallying a group of other Republicans to vote for his removal.
McCarthy later resigned from the House in December.
McCarthy argued that he was removed as speaker of the House so that Gaetz could avoid an ethics investigation into possible sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
“I could have done something illegal and prevented the Ethics Committee investigation that began four years ago,” McCarthy said, alleging that Gaetz told him to stop the investigation.
“That’s what the whole motion to vacate was about. He believed, he wanted me to get involved and he thought somehow, I started this investigation. It all started long before I was speaker of the House,” McCarthy added.
The House Ethics Committee said last month it was continuing its investigation into Gaetz, while also warning about some aspects of the investigation.
Gaetz denied the allegations before the committee.
The Justice Department declined to prosecute Gaetz on sex trafficking charges last February.
When asked if he has any concerns about Gaetz being in the Republican Party, McCarthy said, “No, I’m concerned [about] its action with young women.”
“It doesn’t matter what party you’re in, but if he were to take that kind of action, I just don’t think it would be safe. in Congress, do you think anyone else wants to be around him?” he said.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
