Matt Gaetz Repeatedly Cursed Out By Fellow Republicans In Heated Conference Meeting, Reports CNN’s Manu Raju
CNN’s Brianna Keilar and Manu Raju detailed House GOP infighting on Thursday after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) paused his bid for House speaker and moved to support empowering the interim speaker. Keilar spoke with Raju about the GOP House Conference meeting that took place after Jordan’s announcement and the heated exchanges that took place during that meeting.
“Back here in Washington on Capitol Hill, there is even more chaos over the speaker of the House race, Congressman Jim Jordan, who has failed to win the speakership after two rounds of voting, is putting a pause on a third vote and, according to sources, may back expanding the powers of the interim speaker, the Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry, as a temporary fix until Jordan can try again,” Keilar began, introducing the segment.
“It’s a plan that seems to be dividing the GOP conference just as much as Jordan’s candidacy. And tensions are soaring in a GOP conference meeting underway right now with a lot of swearing and shouting. So let’s get more now on this latest twist from CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju. This meeting, Manu, really sounds like it got out of hand. Where are things standing?” she added before moving to Raju.
“Yeah, it’s been going on for more than 3 hours. It has devolved into a back-and-forth, tense words being exchanged, swear words being exchanged, including at one point the former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy telling Matt Gaetz, who led the effort to oust him, to sit down,” Raju explained, adding:
Gaetz didn’t, some other members cursed at him. One member, Mike Bost, went after him as well, cussing at him several times, we’re told. Also a number of members called on Jim Jordan, the speaker nominee for the Republican Party, to drop out. That is something that Jordan is refusing to do. Basically, where this stands right now is that Jordan has said that he would support making Patrick McHenry, the interim speaker, giving him more legislative power to move through the legislative process, take up bills that have been essentially paralyzed amid this fighting within the House. But he says he will not drop out of the race to be speaker.
Raju then played a series of comments from GOP lawmakers.
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) is then shown telling reporters, “It’s absurd. It’s the biggest F-you to Republican voters I’ve ever seen.”
Referring to empowering McHenry, Banks added, “It’s a big mistake. It’s a big mistake. How many Republicans and over half the Republicans in that room are against it and are going to go to the floor and vote against it? It’s going to take Democrats to make it happen. And that’s a that is a historic betrayal to our Republican voters if we go along with it.”
Watch the full clip above via CNN.
