Former Rep. Kevin McCarthy says he was ousted as speaker of the Dwelling by a member of Congress who “wanted me to quit an ethics complaint due to the fact he slept with a 17-yr-old.”
McCarthy’s elimination from the chamber came after Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who is the topic of a Dwelling Ethics Committee probe for alleged sexual misconduct, filed a motion to vacate the seat in Oct 2023.
“I will give you the truth of the matter why I am not speaker. It’s simply because one human being, a member of Congress, required me to stop an ethics criticism since he slept with a 17-yr-outdated,” McCarthy claimed Tuesday, though speaking at Georgetown University.
Noting that he was doubtful no matter whether the specific was responsible of sexual misconduct, McCarthy insisted the lawmaker he was referencing needed him to step in and “influence” the investigation for the duration of his tenure as Home Speaker.
KEVIN MCCARTHY Takes PARTING SHOT AT MATT GAETZ AS HE EXITS CONGRESS: ‘HE WAS PSYCHOTIC’
“An ethics complaint that started out before I ever turned speaker. And that is illegal. And I am not likely to get in the center,” the previous California lawmaker included. “Did he do it or not? I you should not know. But ethics is wanting at it. And there is other folks in jail because of it, and he wished me to impact it.”
McCarthy did not particularly name Gaetz as the person he was conversing about, but Gaetz was the member of Congress who introduced the movement to oust the former speaker.
“Kevin is a liar. Which, in fact, is why he is not Speaker,” Gaetz reported in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Just question any of the 224 people who voted to get rid of him.”
Gaetz, who has represented Florida’s 1st Congressional District given that 2017, has been under investigation for an alleged sexual partnership with a 17-12 months-old woman he paid out to travel with him. The Justice Department not too long ago halted its probe into allegations of sexual intercourse trafficking, but the Household committee carries on weighing the allegations.
McCarthy has created equivalent remarks concerning Gaetz, charging in November that the congressman “belongs in jail.”
“You have a cross-area [of the delegation],” McCarthy advised Politico when questioned about the House’s Florida Republicans. “You have Gaetz, who belongs in jail, and you have really serious customers.”
Gaetz hit back at McCarthy’s comment, declaring “the only assault I committed was against Kevin’s fragile moi.”
Gaetz has a historical past of controversial allegations about his alleged actions about women of all ages. Before the sex trafficking investigation was introduced, it was formerly claimed Gaetz would brag about his sexual experiences to his colleagues in Congress and allegedly present fellow lawmakers nude images of females he had slept with, CNN claimed.
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Joel Greenberg, a former associate of Gaetz, is serving a prison sentence after pleading guilty to expenses related to a sexual intercourse trafficking probe. Gaetz has continuously denied the allegations and any accusation of wrongdoing, with a spokesman indicating Gaetz “hardly ever experienced sex with a minor and has never compensated for sex.”