A GOP congressman said Gaetz got 'schooled by AOC' when he ousted McCarthy: 'I can't believe he's that stupid'
On Monday, Rep. Matt Gaetz filed a "motion to vacate" Kevin McCarthy as House speaker.
A day later, the House successfully voted to kick McCarthy from his leadership post.
A Republican congressman from Louisiana was livid and said Gaetz got "schooled" by Democrats.
A Republican congressman from Louisiana vociferously went after Rep. Matt Gaetz on Wednesday, a day after the chamber voted to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker.
The Hill reported Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana said he believed Gaetz was "totally manipulated" into filing a "motion to vacate" on Monday, forcing the House to take a vote to remove McCarthy from the chamber's top leadership position.
"Matt Gaetz just got schooled by AOC and others," Graves said. "He was totally manipulated into doing this. There were eight so-called Republicans that got together with 208 Democrats to oust the Republican Speaker."
As Graves noted, only a very small minority of Republican representatives — eight in total, including Gaetz — elected to vacate the speakership. And while it takes many more than eight votes to oust the speaker, the entire Democratic caucus voted in lock-step with the small group of GOP rebels, ultimately bringing together the simple majority vote needed to complete the task at hand.
Graves' comments to reporters on Wednesday weren't the first he made in recent days disparaging Gaetz. He also called the Florida congressman a "clown," saying he "would be a great dictator on a small island nation or something."
The Gaetz's anger over McCarthy's ouster hasn't been contained to just him, instead spilling out toward the GOP caucus at large.
During Tuesday's vote, Graves took the floor to angrily call out his fellow Republicans for fundraising off the speakership drama, saying: "All of a sudden my phone keeps sending text messages, text messages saying, 'Hey, give me money. Oh, look at that. Oh look, give me money; I filed the motion to vacate.'"
"Official actions to raise money," Graves said, "It's disgusting. It's what's disgusting about Washington."
The House is not set to meet again until next week, when it'll reconvene to deliberate and vote on a new speaker. And while some members of Congress have voiced their displeasure with the decision, Graves insisted it might be for the health and safety of the legislative body.
"If we had stayed together in the meeting last night, I think that you would have seen fists thrown," he said.
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