Ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Slams Nemesis Rep. Matt Gaetz For Ousting Him, Calls For ‘Consequences’ For Him

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called out his Republican colleagues responsible for his removal last month and called for “consequences.”

McCarthy was ousted on October 3, when eight house Republicans joined all Democrats to support a motion by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) to remove McCarthy from the Speaker’s role.

The vote made McCarthy the first speaker in U.S. history to lose the position through a floor vote. It took the GOP three weeks to unite around McCarthy’s replacement.

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, McCarthy labeled eight of his GOP critics “disruptors” and expressed surprise that Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee) had joined Gaetz to remove him from his position. McCarthy stated that the Republican Party would benefit “tremendously” if Gaetz were no longer a member of the House.

“People have to earn the right to be here,” he said. “And I just think from – I mean he’ll admit to you personally. He doesn’t have a conservative bent in his philosophy. And just the nature of what he focuses on.” 

On the potential of expelling Gaetz, McCarthy stated that it is ultimately up to the conference of House GOP members to decide, but he added that he believes the conference cannot heal if there are no repercussions for such actions.

Gaetz told CNN in response, “Thoughts and prayers to the former speaker as he works through his grief.”

McCarthy went on to say of Mace, who is running for a third term next November, “I don’t think she will probably have earned the right to get reelected… if you’ve watched her, just her philosophy, and the flip-flopping, I don’t believe she wins reelection.”

Burchett said McCarthy was “bitter.”

“He’s angry and I’m sure he’ll be angry for the rest of his life, but I always, when people do something like he did I always wonder why they don’t look at themselves,” Burchett said. “It’s always that they’re gonna blame somebody else.”

Last month, McCarthy told Gaetz to “sit down” at a meeting of House Republicans.