Rep. Matt Gaetz, whose motion to vacate resulted in the ouster of now-former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, told Newsmax Wednesday that there are a "lot of people" in the chamber's GOP conference who could become the next speaker, but if the eventual choice is between Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Steve Scalise, either will be a "monumental upgrade" over McCarthy.
And, he told Newsmax's "Newsline," that if people, including members of his own party, want to retaliate against him for his actions, they should "take a number and get in line."
"There are a lot of people in our conference who could be speaker," the Florida Republican said when asked if he has a favorite candidate. "I nominated Jim Jordan back in January. Obviously, he's someone I could vote for. Steve Scalise is also a great guy. I think the world of him. He's someone I could vote for."
There will be a "number of talented people" come forward, Gaetz added.
At any rate, he said, the House needs a "new speaker who is trustworthy and who can adhere to spending guardrails," Gaetz said. "This exercise was really about spending. We sit atop of $33 trillion debt. We're facing $2 trillion and up annual deficits each year, and we had obtained a commitment from Speaker McCarthy that the House position would always be a return to pre-COVID spending levels."
But the one thing that "everyone in Washington had in common" was that McCarthy "had lied to one or two, all of us, at one point or another. So I was concerned about the lack of commitments that he was able to keep in our agreement, and I guess he had been double-dealing the Democrats as well."
Further, a spending bill that was not passed last Friday would have reduced spending only for a month, and now a continuing resolution has been passed "that lumps all of the different agencies of government together in one up or down vote," Gaetz maintained. "We should have single-subject spending bills. Kevin McCarthy promised to deliver those bills. He failed to do so. We finally got a few of them out of the house, really with a political gun to the speaker's head, and I voted for all of them."
McCarthy, meanwhile, has commented that Gaetz's action against him was personal and had "nothing to do about spending," but instead was about getting attention and other matters, a contention the Florida congressman dismissed as "nonsense."
"I didn't ask you to come on this show," he said. "You asked me to come on, so I'm not the one pushing the publicity. You invited me to the program to discuss these matters. A lot of other networks invite me on as well because they'd like to know my perspective, and I think it's appropriate to share that with the American people."
McCarthy also accused Gaetz of using the vote as a matter of fundraising, but Gaetz told Newsmax the former speaker's method "is to collect hundreds of millions of dollars from special interests and lobbyists and billionaires, and then those entities own him. All of that money comes with strings attached. Instead of raising money for the people whose special interests are at issue in Washington, D.C., I raise money from my voters and the American people, $10, $20, $30 at a time … it adds up to a lot. That's a far better way."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!