Matt Gaetz Rips GOP House Leaders As ‘Weak Men’ Caught on ‘Sniveling Calls With Liz Cheney’
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Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) tore into the top two House Republicans on Wednesday after the New York Times released audio of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) hammering Gaetz after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“He’s putting people in jeopardy,” McCarthy can be heard saying of Gaetz on the tape. “And he doesn’t need to be doing this. We saw what people would do in the Capitol, you know, and these people came prepared with rope, with everything else.”
“It’s potentially illegal what he’s doing,” added Scalise, raising the prospect of criminal liability for Gaetz’s rhetoric surrounding the attack on the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters.
“Rep McCarthy and Rep. Scalise held views about President Trump and me that they shared on sniveling calls with Liz Cheney, not us. This is the behavior of weak men, not leaders,” said Gaetz in response to the audio.
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) April 26, 2022
In the statement released Tuesday evening, Gaetz goes on the slam Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and notes that he went to Wyoming days after the recording was made and held “the largest event in Wyoming political history” to rail against Cheney over her support for the second impeachment of Donald Trump.
“On the bright side, you no longer have to be a lobbyist with a $5,000 check to know what McCarthy and Scalise really think. You just have to listen to their own words as they disparage Trump and the Republicans in Congress who fight for him,” added Gaetz, referring to another audio of McCarthy published recently that shows the Republican leader expressing frustration with Trump and his role in the Jan. 6 attack.
While Trump has so far decided to stick with McCarthy and say their relationship remains unchanged, the California Republican is facing increasing pressure from the far-right within his own party — a potential threat to his ambitions to become Speaker of the House if the GOP reclaims the chamber after the 2022 midterm elections.
