Speaker McCarthy Scoffs at Gaetz’s Threats to Oust Him: ‘Oh My God, Someone Tweeted About Me?’

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) scoffed at threats from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to oust him from the speakership, shrugging at the Florida congressman’s attacks as just someone tweeting about him.

McCarthy infamously had to slog through fifteen rounds of votes to claim the speaker’s gavel, due to opposition from hardline Freedom Caucus members like Gaetz, who was the single vote who blocked McCarthy’s path on the fourteenth vote and required a fifteenth attempt.

One of the concessions Gaetz and his allies demanded was to allow a motion to vacate the chair — essentially, the vote to remove McCarthy as Speaker — to be filed by only one House member. Gaetz has repeatedly touted this potential vote as a cudgel to be wielded by the right wing of the Republican caucus to force McCarthy to grant some of their demands.

Even McCarthy’s willingness to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden failed to mellow Gaetz’s feelings and he has been increasingly calling for McCarthy’s defenestration — even going so far as to attempt to recruit Democrats to join him in voting to oust McCarthy.

Punchbowl News managing editor Heather Caygle caught up with McCarthy and asked him about Gaetz’s “constant Twitter threats to oust him.”

Caygle tweeted McCarthy’s sarcastic response:

Oh my god, someone tweeted about me? Oh my god, I’m gonna lose the speakership because somebody tweeted about me. That would’ve happened a long time ago.

Meanwhile, Gaetz’s posts on The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter have heavily targeted McCarthy for days and his bio features a photo of him yelling at McCarthy during one of the later rounds of that contentious speakership vote.

Screenshot via Twitter.

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