Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy got into a testy exchange this week at the House GOP conference meeting, where Gaetz was accusing McCarthy of paying people to write negative things about him online.
McCarthy essentially told Gaetz he wasn’t doing it, saying “I’m not worried about you Matt”.
Here’s more from The Hill:
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) got into a testy exchange behind closed doors Thursday, after Gaetz accused McCarthy of being behind a social media campaign targeting the Florida Republican — which the Speaker denied.
The back-and-forth at the House GOP’s conference meeting took place amid heightened tensions between the men, with Gaetz openly threatening to force a vote on ousting McCarthy as Speaker if he does not follow through with a number of demands on spending and legislation.
“I asked McCarthy direct question: Were you out there paying for people to try to create a false negative sentiment about me online?” Gaetz told The Hill of the exchange. “And his non sequitur retort was that he was giving out two and a half million dollars to other Republicans at breakfast. And I asked him how much of that money he’d gotten from FTX and Sam Bankman Fried.”
McCarthy, however, denied any involvement in the anti-Gaetz campaign, according to the lawmaker – and his outside legal counsel sent a cease-and-desist to the individual responsible for the solicitations earlier this week. The Speaker told Gaetz that he is busy doing his job and trying to run the conference and essentially said, “I’m not worried about you, Matt,” according to a House Republican.
Gaetz said that McCarthy “mumbled and said that he didn’t think enough of me to do that.”
“I don’t think you believe that, and I don’t think your readers would believe that,” Gaetz said.
A House Republican who requested anonymity to discuss the private exchange told The Hill that Gaetz accused McCarthy of “masterminding outside money attacking him.”
And another House Republican added that it was a “very” testy exchange.
Politico reported earlier this week that McCarthy’s private lawyers sent a cease and desist to some individual at the firm Notorious LLC:
The scuffle came after social media posts circulated on Tuesday with screenshots of a message individuals received from an account soliciting work for an advocacy campaign “against Gaetz and the government shutdown.”
“Howdy! Got an advocacy campaign with budget. Do you do paid posts? If so how do you work? By the way, the issue is against Gaetz and government shut down. Let me know asap!” the message read, according to a photo posted on X by Rogan O’Handley, a conservative commentator. O’Handley claimed that the message was “from a McCarthy proxy.”
Gaetz shared the post, writing “1. Thank you! 2. @SpeakerMcCarthy is pathetic.”
McCarthy’s outside counsel, Elliot S. Berke, sent a cease-and-desist to an individual presumed to be behind the solicitations on Tuesday.
This is a distraction given all that’s going on in the House right now with the pending government shutdown and the House committees pursuing their impeachment inquiries. I’m glad it was behind closed doors and I hope it doesn’t turn into any more than this.