‘I’m a No’: Matt Gaetz Emerges from McCarthy’s Office After Meeting Amid Tense Speakership Battle

Haley Talbot/NBC News

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) met with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Monday as the latter’s bid for the speakership may be in peril.

Republicans are slated to retake the House this week after securing a majority in November’s midterm elections. The GOP will hold 222 seats in the 435-seat chamber. On Tuesday, House will vote for speaker, though McCarthy may not have the majority necessary to win.

One big reason is Gaetz, who has been perhaps the most vocal opponent of a McCarthy speakership. Gaetz and a handful of other House Republicans have said they won’t support him.

McCarthy has already set up shop in the speaker’s office at the Capitol. On Monday, he met with Gaetz, who emerged to say he hasn’t budged. In a video posted on Twitter by Haley Talbot of NBC News, he called it “a brief and productive discussion.”

“How was it productive?” a reporter asked.

“Insofar that it was brief,” replied Gaetz, who was flanked by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), another fierce McCarthy critic.

Asked to elaborate, he declined.

“Has he won your support yet, congressman?” asked Robert Costa of CBS News.

“No,” Gaetz answered.

“Why not?” Costa pressed.

The congressman stated he’s already explained his reasons “extensively.”

Costa asked if Gaetz is any closer to backing McCarthy, but the congressman simply repeated that the meeting was “brief and productive.”

“That’s a different tone than you’ve struck before,” CNN’s Manu Raju observed, saying, “You might vote for him tomorrow?”

“I’m a no,” Gaetz said.

McCarthy has reportedly given the holdouts several concessions, but that apparently hasn’t moved Gaetz into the “Yes” column.