A cohort of House Republicans are reportedly penning a motion to expel Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as he ramps up his efforts to boot House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from GOP leadership.
Citing anonymous sources within Congress, Fox News and CNN both reported Sunday that lawmakers will turn against Gaetz if an ongoing Ethics Committee probe doesn’t clear him of long simmering allegations of wrongdoing.
That motion is already mostly written, one source told Fox, but it remains unclear what the panel may find Gaetz guilty of. If a vote to expel was held in the House, a two-thirds vote would be required.
ADVERTISEMENT
“No one can stand him at this point,” the source told Fox News. “A smart guy without morals.”
Expelling Gaetz could be risky for the GOP, which currently has a razor-thin majority in the House that could quickly disappear should there be any other GOP retirements, deaths, or expulsions.
The possible mess for Gaetz comes on the heels of him telling CNN’s State of the Union earlier on Sunday that he’s trying to have McCarthy booted from his leadership post by the end of 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,” Gaetz told moderator Jake Tapper.
In response to the calls for his ouster, Gaetz quickly tweeted a bizarre photo of himself surrounded by people pointing guns at his head.
One of McCarthy’s concessions to GOP hard-liners in his turbulent ascension to the speakership included a rule change that allowed for a single member of Congress to file a “motion to vacate.”
That provision would force a House vote that theoretically could remove McCarthy from his perch—the same provision that Gaetz hopes to use.
McCarthy brushed off the threat during an interview on CBS’ Face the Nation. “I’ll survive,” he told moderator Margaret Brennan, noting the monthlong dispute is “personal with Gaetz.”
Gaetz insisted to Tapper that the House needs to move to single-subject spending bills instead of the stopgaps known as continuing resolutions, acknowledging that “in divided government, that means that you have to take into account the views of Senate Democrats, the views of the White House.”
Tapper was puzzled by Gaetz’s apparent understanding of government, particularly after Gaetz demanded defunding officials such as special counsel Jack Smith—and GOP hard-right conservatives proposed using an appropriations rule in the House to do so.
“You understand that?” Tapper said. “Because you’re on the floor of the House talking about what Kevin McCarthy needs to do is to allow line-item vetoes by people like you, line-item votes against the salaries of people who are investigating Donald Trump, the salaries of individuals who are offering sweetheart deals to Hunter Biden—that to me is not the language of somebody who understands the balance of power in House and the Senate and how all legislation actually functions.
“I think that to me, is the language of somebody who is looking for clicks and likes and Fox hits, not somebody who actually is trying to reduce the debt.”
Gaetz responded to Tapper’s Fox comment by saying, “I haven't been hitting there as much recently,” although he was on Maria Bartiromo’s Fox News Sunday show Sunday Morning Futures last week.
Gaetz’s tough talk comes after a shambolic episode on Capitol Hill revolving around the threat of a government shutdown, which included Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) pulling a fire alarm—by accident, he says—while his party tried to delay a vote.
The chaotic day ended with a stopgap bill that will fund the government for about 45 days but that excluded funding for Ukraine.
