Rep. Matt Gaetz filed a formal ethics complaint Tuesday against Rep. Kevin McCarthy for his altercation with Rep. Tim Burchett, stoking the tension between the former speaker and those who voted to remove him.
Mr. Burchett, Tennessee Republican, said Tuesday that Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, elbowed him in what he called “a clean shot to the kidneys” while being interviewed by NPR.
Mr. Gaetz, in a letter to the House Ethics Committee, said the incident deserved “immediate and swift investigation.”
“This Congress has seen a substantial increase in breaches of decorum unlike anything we have seen since the pre-Civil War era,” the Florida Republican wrote in the letter.
“I myself have been a victim of outrageous conduct on the House floor as well, but nothing like an open and public assault on a member, committed by another member,” he wrote. “The rot starts at the top.”
This all comes roughly a month after Mr. Burchett and Mr. Gaetz voted along with six other Republicans and House Democrats to oust Mr. McCarthy from the speakership.
Mr. Burchett said the elbow to the back was “uncool.”
“It caught me off guard because it was a clean shot to the kidneys, and I turned back and there was Kevin,” he said.
The Tennessee lawmaker chased after Mr. McCarthy, saying he had “no guts.”
After walking away from Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Burchett said it was the first he had spoken to him since he voted to remove him.
Mr. Gaetz said the incident was “wild.”
“McCarthy resorting to pushing people in the halls,” he wrote on X. “What a weak, pathetic husk of a man.”
While Mr. Gaetz didn’t see the altercation, anyone can file a complaint.
Mr. McCarthy told CNN he “didn’t shove or elbow” Mr. Burchett.
• Alex Miller contributed to this story.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.