Rep. Matt Gaetz tried to goad former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the floor of the Republican National Convention Tuesday, telling him that delegates would boo him if he took the stage.
“What night are you speaking? What night are you speaking?” Mr. Gaetz, Florida Republican, asked Mr. McCarthy while the former speaker was trying to do an interview.
“Are you speaking tonight?” the lawmaker asked, pointing aggressively at him. “If you took that stage, you would get booed off of it. You would get booed off the stage.”
Neither are on the schedule to speak at the convention Tuesday. Mr. Gaetz wrote on X Tuesday that he will be speaking at the convention Wednesday. It is unknown whether Mr. McCarthy, who retired from Congress, has a speaking slot.
Mr. Gaetz and Mr. McCarthy have a chilly relationship. Mr. Gaetz was the driving force behind Mr. McCarthy losing his position as speaker last October.
Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, ultimately wound up leaving his seat in Congress early, and sought revenge by backing the primary challengers of the Republicans who voted him out, including Mr. Gaetz.
The Florida lawmaker had faced a probe by the House Ethics Committee over accusations of sexual misconduct, bribery, illicit drug use and sharing inappropriate images or videos on the House floor. But the panel is no longer looking into those charges.
The committee reopened its investigation last year after the Justice Department declined to press charges in February 2023, reportedly because of difficulties in proving the initial claims.
The ethics panel said last month that it is now looking into two other accusations against Mr. Gaetz, including whether he gave special privileges and favors to other people with whom he had a personal relationship, and that he “sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.”
Mr. McCarthy has said before that he thinks he was targeted by Mr. Gaetz because Mr. Gaetz wanted him to stop the original ethics probe.
Mr. Gaetz has denied all the allegations before the committee.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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