OAN’s James Meyers
2:55 PM – Monday, October 2, 2023
Republican Representative Matt Gaetz conceded on Monday, stating that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy can survive a conservative effort to “oust him from power.”
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But Gaetz (R-Fla.) did say to the press that McCarthy (R-Calif.) would most likely have to rely on Democrats to survive, which would weaken the House Speaker’s relationship among the GOP.
“Kevin McCarthy’s true coalition partner on all things of substance has been the Democrats this Congress,” Gaetz told reporters on the steps of the Capitol Monday,
“If Kevin McCarthy works for Democrats and utilizes Democrats in order to keep power, that would be consistent with everything we’ve seen from him,” Gaetz added.
This comes after Gaetz has been pushing to oust the speaker via the congressional mechanism to vacate the chair, which allows any one member the ability to call for a new speaker election.
Republicans have threatened to get rid of McCarthy after he relied on Democrat votes to stave off a government shutdown on Saturday.
The Florida representative also alluded to the possibility that the House will hold votes on sending more aid to Ukraine as another reason to oust the House Speaker.
“Members of the Republican Party might vote differently on a motion to vacate if they heard what the speaker had to share with us about his secret side deal with Joe Biden on Ukraine. I’ll be listening,” he said in closing. “Stay tuned.”
Additionally, if they fail to get rid of McCarthy the first time Gaetz said he could keep calling for votes to remove him from his position.
“It took Speaker McCarthy 15 votes to become the speaker,” Gaetz said. “So until I guess the 14th or 15th, I don’t think I’m being any more dilatory than he was.”
McCarthy commented on the possibility of multiple votes to get rid of him by using Gaetz’s own language “I think if somebody does dilatory tactics, I don’t think our members will want to keep doing it.”
When Gaetz was asked if he would back down he said he wanted to file a motion to vacate when more lawmakers are present. “No one’s in town. It’s Monday on a fly-in day at noon,” he explained. “I think we’ll have more folks later this afternoon.”
McCarthy and his allies have disputed the talks, saying that they will beat any move by the Florida representative to oust him.
“So be it, bring it on,” McCarthy said during an appearance Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I’ll survive.”
Gaetz mentioned Majority Leader Steve Scalize, (R-La.), as a possibility to replace McCarthy, but he did not endorse anyone.
“There’s probably 100 Republicans in Congress that I would vote for as speaker,” Gaetz said. “We have a lot of folks in Congress who I think would be very capable to serve as speaker.”
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