‘Stand Back, I’m Gonna Defend Matt Gaetz’: Tapper Says Congressman’s Anti-McCarthy Gambit ‘Does Not Outrage Me’
CNN anchor Jake Tapper defended Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) amid the latter’s quest to deny the speakership to Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
McCarthy failed to notch the 218 votes necessary to become speaker on Wednesday. It was the sixth fruitless vote in the past two days.
Gaetz has been the most vocal of the 20 or so Republicans who have cast their votes for members other than McCarthy. Until a speaker is chosen, the House cannot function.
During a discussion of the fiasco on Wednesday, CNN’s Abby Phillip said Gaetz, who is reportedly seeking to chair a House Armed Services subcommittee, is being unreasonable.
“One of the demands that was being made by Matt Gaetz who, I think a lot of people believe is probably a hard no, is that he wanted a subcommittee gavel,” Phillip stated. “He wanted a specific job handed to him by Kevin McCarthy, which, if you’re one of the other 200-plus Republicans, that’s an untenable demand. That’s a ridiculous, untenable demand because what it means is that, just because he’s holding out, he would get more power, just due to that fact?”
Phillip called Gaetz’s demands “problematic.”
Tapper stepped in to argue Gaetz’s side.
“Let me play devil’s advocate here for one second about Matt Gaetz,” he said. “I’m gonna defend Matt Gaetz.”
“Wait, can we roll the breaking news banner?” joked Dana Bash.
“Stand back, I’m gonna defend Matt Gaetz,” Tapper continued. “And I’m also gonna date myself further. When Tom Daschle in the Senate was running for Senate minority leader against Chris Dodd – neither of them are in the Senate anymore – he switched the vote of senator Carol Moseley Braun by saying you can have my seat on the Senate Finance Committee. And that’s how Tom Daschle became the Democratic leader in the Senate.”
Tapper said such a demand “is not new.”
“I’m sorry. I get that Matt Gaetz is outrageous in so many ways,” he added. “Asking for an Armed Services Committee subcommittee chairmanship does not outrage me.”
Watch above via CNN.
