Rep. Matt Gaetz confirmed Monday he has been in contact with former President Donald Trump, in response to reporters’ questions whether he was seeking advice from Mr. Trump over his effort to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
But the lawmaker would not reveal the details of his conversations with Mr. Trump. “I think I’m going to keep that between the two of us,” he said.
Mr. Gaetz, Florida Republican, did say the discussions have occurred after he slammed Mr. McCarthy on the chamber floor as he threatened to bring what is known in Congress as a “motion to vacate the chair” to remove Mr. McCarthy, California Republican.
When reporters asked Mr. Trump last weekend about Mr. Gaetz’s efforts to oust Mr. McCarthy, the former president responded, “I don’t know anything about those efforts. I like them both very much.”
Mr. Gaetz accused Mr. McCarthy of doing a side deal with the Democrats for supporting Saturday’s temporary spending measure by promising to take up the Senate’s Ukraine funding measure eventually.
“The Speaker of the House was actually cutting a side deal to bring Ukraine legislation to this floor with President Biden and House Democrats,” he said. “So let me get this straight — to extend Joe Biden spending and Joe Biden’s policy priorities, the Speaker of the House gave away to Joe Biden, the money for Ukraine that Joe Biden wanted.”
He said, “It is going to be difficult for my Republican friends to keep calling President Biden feeble, while he continues to take Speaker McCarthy’s lunch money, and every negotiation.”
Mr. McCarthy on Monday said he didn’t make any side deals with Democrats to pass future Ukraine funding.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, who does not support Mr. Gaetz’s plan to eject Mr. McCarthy from the speakership, told The Washington Times that the speaker would be violating the Hastert rule if he brings the upper chamber’s Ukraine funding measure to the floor.
The Hastert Rule is a precept that the speaker should not schedule a floor vote on any legislation that does not have majority support within their party — even if the majority of the members of the House would vote to pass it.
“There was a separate vote on the floor [Saturday] for the $300 million to Ukraine. That money was taken out … and it was the majority of the majority — 117 Republicans voted against it,” Ms. Greene said. “So that reflects that the majority of the majority is against sending more money to Ukraine.”
Mr. Gaetz has threatened for months to use the motion to vacate against Mr. McCarthy.
He said Sunday that the last straw was Mr. McCarthy’s reliance on Democrats to pass a 45-day stopgap spending bill that avoided a government shutdown at midnight Saturday.
Mr. McCarthy’s move wasn’t popular. Nearly half of House Republicans — 90 — voted against the bill.
“I do intend to file a motion to vacate against Speaker McCarthy this week. I think we need to rip off the Band-Aid. I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy,” Mr. Gaetz said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“This 45-day [stopgap spending bill] does not liberate us from our nation’s financial challenges,” he said. “We remain $33 trillion in debt. We’re facing $2.2 trillion annual deficits,” Mr. Gaetz told reporters.
To be successful, Mr. Gaetz needs only a handful of Republicans to turn against Mr. McCarthy, who has continually expressed confidence throughout the past few weeks he will survive any effort by the Florida Republican to oust him from his leadership post.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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