A House Republican believes one of Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-FL) reasons for taking on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is "not fair."
Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) said the Florida Republican, who has threatened to bring a motion to vacate against McCarthy, is blaming the speaker for things outside his control.
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“I'm also on [the] Ethics [Committee], so I can’t really talk about Gaetz. But the idea that … somehow the speaker’s responsible for his having an ethics investigation, I could tell you, is completely false," he told Politico. "So I think it's important to remember that people have grudges against him for whatever reason and they use this to take it out on Kevin. And that's not fair."
“The Ethics Committee is a captive vassal state of Washington’s uniparty leadership. They will never pressure me to back down," Gaetz said in a statement in response to Joyce's comments.
McCarthy told CNN during a recent appearance that Gaetz has been conspiring against him with Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), attributing it to an ethics complaint.
“Matt is working with Eric Swalwell, but let me be very clear,” the speaker began, “Matt is upset about an ethics complaint. I don’t care what they threaten against me. I’m not gonna interject into an independent committee like ethics, and I’m not going to put Swalwell back on the intel committee. So, they can do whatever they want.”
Gaetz, though, denied that the ethics complaint was any motivation for him and has previously accused McCarthy of lying. The Florida Republican has threatened to try and oust McCarthy as speaker if he doesn't bring forward spending bills that satisfy certain demands.
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“We're either going to get compliance, or we're going to start having votes on motions to vacate and we're gonna have it regularly,” he told reporters earlier this week. “I don't anticipate them passing immediately. But if we have to begin every single day in Congress with the prayer, the pledge, and the motion to vacate, then so be it.”
McCarthy dared rebelling Republicans to try and remove him Thursday. “If you want to file a motion to vacate, then file the f***ing motion,” he said, per Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL).