Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy's feud erupts at Republican convention [View all]
Source: NBC News
July 16, 2024, 10:26 PM EDT
The feud between former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., continued on the Republican National Convention floor Tuesday evening as Gaetz tried to taunt his former colleague. Gaetz approached McCarthy on the convention floor in Milwaukee as McCarthy seemed to be speaking with other people.
Gaetz repeatedly tapped his shoulder and said: "What night are you speaking? Are you speaking tonight?" Someone seemed to shoo Gaetz away, but he didn't back down. "Hey, if you took that stage, you would get booed off of it," he said. "You would get booed off the stage." As Gaetz walked away, another man on the convention floor could be heard saying: "Shut up, Gaetz. Don't be an a--hole."
NBC News' Tom Llamas later asked McCarthy in an interview about the confrontation with Gaetz, who was responsible for his ouster as speaker in October.
"I think it shows exactly who Matt Gaetz is," said McCarthy, who, when asked whether he thinks he would get booed, off the stage, said, "Not at all." McCarthy said Gaetz acted that way toward him because "he had an ethics complaint four years ago that he paid an underage girl, and she has come to ethics."
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/kevin-mccarthy-matt-gaetz-engage-spat-republican-convention-floor-rcna162250