Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) suggested on Sunday that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) could face the same expulsion threat as Rep. George Santos (R-NY) once the House Ethics Committee released its report on him.
McCarthy made the comments during an appearance on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures after being asked about House Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-LA) laddered continuing resolution, which would extend some appropriations bills into January and the rest into February.
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“I think Johnson was very smart about making sure keeping our troops paid, especially in the Mediterranean where they are right now,” McCarthy began. “Unfortunately, we had a number of members doing the exact same thing they did before, stopping bills from moving forward.”
“We’re gonna have to come together,” he continued. “We do know this is really driven … [by] Matt Gaetz’s ethics complaint. I think once that ethics complaint comes forward, he could have the same problem that Santos has. I think the conference would be probably better united to be able to move forward and get this all done.”
Backed by seven of his GOP colleagues, Gaetz led the charge to oust McCarthy in early October. Gaetz and McCarthy have long had a fraught relationship, though their feud sparked national headlines as the former blocked McCarthy’s speakership bid in January. McCarthy has argued that Gaetz’s efforts to take him down were based on personal grievances over his failure to shut down the ethics inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct and misuse of campaign funds by the Florida lawmaker.
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Gaetz has faced calls to be removed from Congress by House Republicans who were enraged over his historic campaign to oust a sitting speaker of one’s own party, though not over his ethics investigation. Santos, who has already survived two previous expulsion votes over his numerous federal indictments, appears poised to be expelled from the body once Congress returns from Thanksgiving recess.
A number of members from both parties had refrained from voting aye on the previous motions to expel because they wanted to wait for the ethics report.
