Amid a motion to vacate House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), former speaker Newt Gingrich urged the GOP to expel McCarthy’s “anti-Republican” challenger, Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.).
“Gaetz obviously hates House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — and that’s fine. If Gaetz were simply a loudmouthed junior member who attacked McCarthy every day, that would be fine, too. He would just be isolated with a small group of lawmakers who can’t figure out how to get things done. They’d huddle together seeking warmth and reassurance from their fellow incompetents,” Gingrich wrote in a Washington Post op-ed on Tuesday.
“But Gaetz has gone beyond regular drama,” Gingrich wrote. “He is destroying the House GOP’s ability to govern and draw a sharp contrast with the policy disasters of the Biden administration.”
The former Georgia politician, who was speaker from 1995 to 1999, said that the Florida representative has become “actively destructive to the conservative movement.” Gingrich’s attack comes as Gaetz leads a campaign to oust McCarthy from the speakership, over concerns that McCarthy orchestrated a “secret, side deal” with Democrats on Ukraine funding to avoid a government shutdown.
Uncharacteristically, he said, Gingrich agrees with former speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) that Gaetz’s “childish” behavior is a publicity stunt. Instead of paying more attention to Gaetz, he noted, House Republicans should work together on “cutting spending in appropriation bills,” “advancing their impeachment inquiry into President Biden,” and “pursuing and amplifying immigration policy changes to address the wildly out-of-control southern border.”
Gaetz is also violating a House Republican Conference rule, Gingrich said, that “states the motion to vacate ‘should only be available with the agreement of the Republican Conference so as to not allow Democrats to choose the Speaker.'”
“The agreement made when McCarthy became speaker doesn’t supersede the conference rules. Gaetz still needs a majority of the conference,” he said. “Gaetz knows he can’t possibly get a majority of the House GOP conference to his side. He is simply violating the rules in the pursuit of personal attention and fundraising — just like Pelosi said.”
Although the House voted against tabling Gaetz’s motion on Tuesday, McCarthy said he was “confident” he would survive the attack. The House will now debate the motion to remove the speaker from his post.
“At the end of the day, if you throw a speaker out that has 99 percent of their conference, that kept government open, that paid the troops, I think we’re in a really bad place for how we’re going to run Congress,” McCarthy said.
As expulsion from the House requires a two-thirds vote, Gingrich said removing Gaetz from the House Republican Conference and any committee assignments would be a more “rational” response.
“Gaetz’s motion to remove McCarthy should be swiftly defeated, and then he should be expelled from the House Republican Conference. House Republicans have far more important things to do than entertain one member’s ego,” Gingrich said.