Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy appeared to take a shot at the Republican Rep. who forced him out of his position last year, telling a crowd at an event that he lost the speakership because Matt Gaetz (FL) “slept with a 17-year-old.”
“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.”
The former Speaker and California Rep. went on to say that Gaetz, the person he was referring to, was upset because he wouldn’t get involved but that it was a serious matter and not something he would roll over for.
“Now, did he do it or not? I don’t know. But ethics was looking at it,” McCarthy said. “There’s other people in jail because of it. And he wanted me to influence it.”
The investigation by the House Ethics Committee was launched in 2021 when Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was still speaker.
However, it was paused when Gaetz was investigated by the US Justice Department for sex trafficking over allegations that he had paid for sex and had sex with a woman who was underage.
The person in jail that McCarthy referenced was Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector, whose arrest led to the investigation into Gaetz. In December 2022, Greenberg received an 11-year prison sentence for multiple offenses, including sex trafficking a minor, CBS News reported at the time.
After prosecutors said they wouldn’t issue charges in early 2023, the House ethics investigation restarted.
Gaetz responded to McCarthy’s accusations on Tuesday, telling Politico that there are several reasons why he isn’t the speaker anymore.
“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.
However, there have been reports to corroborate McCarthy’s version of events, as the Daily Beast, which cited private communication from Gaetz, said that the Florida Rep. “indicated to a friend that his effort to undercut, isolate and ultimately remove McCarthy was, indeed, payback” for the investigation.
The Beast went on to say that “other Republican congressional sources” also confirmed this version of events, saying it was the ethics investigation, not policy differences that led Gaetz to move against McCarthy.
“As I’ve answered likely 100 times on the record, I led the charge to remove Kevin McCarthy from his role as House speaker because he failed to keep his promises,” Gaetz told the Beast, denying the report.
During his event at Georgetown, McCarthy said that he doesn’t have any regrets from his time as speaker, but those who removed him might.
“I think today, if you went back for the people that voted [to remove me], they think that was a smart vote? I don’t think so … I made everybody stand up because I think historically, it’ll be viewed as a very bad thing that happened to our Congress,” McCarthy said.