Gaetz Hits Back at Not ‘Particularly Intelligent’ Fellow Republican Who Called Him ‘Tubby’ In Spat Over Ousting Johnson

CNN’s chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju spoke with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Thursday after Gaetz was involved in a tense back and forth with his fellow Republicans – including Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) who called him “tubby.”

“So you would have been opposed to moving forward on a motion to vacate. Now that there’s talking about possibly changing those rules, have you changed your mind?” Raju asked Gaetz about possibly removing Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) as Van Orden demanded earlier.

“I hope we don’t have to go down that road. It was very puzzling and concerning to me that Congressman Van Orton, in a conversation we just had on the floor, repeatedly, was insisting that we call a motion to vacate to the floor. He was demanding it in kind of an unhinged way,” Gaetz replied.

“So, I mean, where are you? On whether or not you would support a motion to vacate at this moment?” Raju followed up.

“I didn’t support one when I woke up this morning,” Gaetz quipped back.

“So do you support one now?” Raju pressed.

“We got, we got more time in the day,” Gaetz mused.

“What do you think of, just in general about it?” Raju asked.

“Let me clarify that. I think a motion to vacate, is, is something that could put the conference in peril. And Miss Boebert and I, we’re working to avoid that. Our goal is to avoid a motion to vacate. But we are not going to surrender that accountability tool, particularly in a time when we’re seeing America’s interests subjugated to foreign interests abroad,” Gaetz replied.

“Can you explain what was going on with Mr. Van Orden?” asked another reporter.

“He kept demanding that we file a motion to vacate and demanding that we do it in a privileged way,” Gaetz replied.

“And what does that mean? I mean, does it surprise you in this climate that people might be saying that? And we heard this from Mr. Massie. We’ve heard this from Ms. Greene,” followed up the reporter.

“The only thing I gleaned from it is that Mr. Van Orden is not a particularly intelligent individual,” Gaetz replied.

“You spoke to the speaker? What was that conversation like?” Raju asked.

“Tense,” Gaetz replied.

“Why?” Raju asked.

“Because we don’t want to pass this bill. We do not. The only thing. Yeah, the only win we’ve got in the House of Representatives is blocking the Senate supplemental. And so if he’s ready to throw in the towel on that, what are we doing here?” Gaetz replied.

“And what did he say in response?” Raju followed up.

“I think that he views the Ukraine issue very differently than we do. We’re worried about America’s border. He seems to be more worried about Ukraine,” Gaetz fumed.

Watch the clip above via CNN.