Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) had his tail between his legs on Tuesday night after getting dunked on by his colleague Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY). In a fundraising email blast, Gaetz claimed “RINOs,” or Republicans in name only, were teaming up with progressive House members to stop Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) from becoming the new Speaker. But Lawler, who was one of the 20 House Republicans who did not vote for Jordan on Tuesday, pointed out the embarassing irony of Gaetz’s message, saying that the Florida lawmaker was the one who worked with “RADICAL DEMOCRATS” to boot former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Gaetz tried to explain away his email, writing on social media that it was sent by a “vendor ”without approval from his team. He added, “I intend to heed Speaker-Designate Jordan’s call to not attack fellow Republicans as we work through this.” Gaetz’s office did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
This email was sent by a vendor without my team’s approval. It should not have been sent.
I sincerely apologize to Mike Lawler and anyone else who felt targeted by this I’ll-conceived email message.
I will make changes to ensure this does not happen again.
