'Wake Up, Dude': GOP Lawmaker Puts 'Charlatan' Matt Gaetz On Blast
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is trying to boot House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his leadership post over his deal with Democrats to prevent a government shutdown and claims that McCarthy cut a “secret side deal” with President Joe Biden on aid for Ukraine.
But at least one member of his own conference isn’t having it.
“Wake up, dude,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday. “This is absolutely ridiculous, and it’s just him trying to latch on to something else to create chaos and try to use as a vehicle to remove the speaker.”
Lawler insisted that Republicans under McCarthy are trying to create a bill to cut spending and advance other conservative causes but said Gaetz could put that in jeopardy.
“We are doing the work,” he said. “This will be a major distraction from that work.”
Lawler said other members of the GOP conference are growing tired of Gaetz’s antics.
“Matt has been a singular destructive force within the conference, and the American people should understand that what he is doing is not conservative, it is not conservative Republicanism,” Lawler said. “He is a charlatan.”
Gaetz is under investigation by the Ethics Committee, and some members of the Republican conference are reportedly planning to try to push him out of Congress if he is found guilty.
See Lawler’s full conversation with Tapper below: