Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) shared in a recent interview that he doesn’t regret removing former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), saying that it was “definitely worth it.”
Gaetz shared his thoughts in a recent interview with Audacy, in which he discussed the new efforts to remove Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over his recent decision to pass the FISA bill with the help of Democrats.
When asked if he thought removing McCarthy might have been a mistake, given that Johnson seems to be in the same spot as his predecessor in working with Democrats to overcome Republican opposition, Gaetz said he doesn’t think twice about what he did.
“Kevin McCarthy was totally owned by the lobbyists and special interests of Washington, and he functionally did their bidding,” Gaetz said, continuing with criticism for the current speaker. “Mike Johnson failed to liberate us from the Kevin McCarthy deal on spending. That puts us on a pathway to financial ruin.”
The Florida Republican went on to acknowledge the removal of McCarthy as being a “shock to the system.”
He also acknowledged that Johnson has not done what many in the party hoped he would, instead just moving forward with the spending bills previously negotiated.
“Mike Johnson has spent no more and no less than McCarthy negotiated with Biden, which is unacceptable,” Gaetz said. “We should be reducing spending and we should have… single subject spending bills. This is not radical. This is what all of our state legislatures do to actually balance their budgets.”
Gaetz’s comments come after McCarthy took a shot at him earlier this month, saying that policy was not the reason for his removal from his position but instead a personal matter.
“I’ll give you the truth why I’m not speaker,” McCarthy said at an event at Georgetown University in Washington. “Because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old, an ethics complaint that started before I ever became speaker. And that’s illegal, and I’m not going to get in the middle of it.”
Gaetz responded to McCarthy, at the time, telling Politico that they were nothing more than false accusations.
“Kevin is a liar. Which, actually, is why he isn’t speaker. Just ask any of the 224 people who voted to remove him,” Gaetz said.