On Monday, Congressman Matt Gaetz officially filed a Motion to Vacate the Chair against Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The previous night, after the US House of Representatives passed a 45-Day Stop-Gap Resolution to avoid a shutdown without funding for Ukraine, Gaetz appeared on both ABC’s This Week and CNN’s State of the Union where he announced his intention to file a motion to remove Kevin McCarthy from his position.
Gaetz told Karl this is an “exercise to show the American people who really governs you,” adding that he believes the Democrats will bail McCarthy out.
Speaking with Jake Tapper on CNN, Gaetz made his intentions very clear, saying McCarthy has been in “brazen, repeated, material breach” of the agreement he made with House conservatives back in January.
As promised, on Monday, Gaetz took action and formally filed a motion to remove McCarthy from his position as Speaker.
“Declaring the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives to be vacant. Resolved that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is hereby declared to be vacant,” Gaetz said.
A vote on Gaetz’s motion will be brought up within two legislative days after the resolution is properly noticed.
Watch:
What was the secret side deal that @SpeakerMcCarthy made with Joe Biden on Ukraine?
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) October 2, 2023
Members of the Republican Party might vote differently on a motion to vacate if they heard the answer to that question.
Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/oUXEvI9vMG
Speaking with reporters, Gaetz said, “We heard the president come out and say there was a deal with the Speaker on Ukraine and the Speaker just stood up in front of all of us and said that that there’s no deal on Ukraine. The House Democrats say there’s a deal on Ukraine, so we’re going to have to sort that out. We’re going to have to sort out who’s lying.”
Watch:
Matt Gaetz:
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) October 3, 2023
"Biden says there's a deal with the Speaker on Ukraine. The Speaker just stood up in front of us and said there's no deal on Ukraine. Someone's lying about whether or not in this CR negotiation there was a secret side deal on Ukraine funding." pic.twitter.com/yrJW5mte46
From NBC News:
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., the Donald Trump ally and conservative bomb-thrower who has been a nagging thorn in leadership’s side, filed a resolution on Monday to force a vote to overthrow his political nemesis, Kevin McCarthy, as speaker of the House.
The House must now vote on whether to keep McCarthy on as speaker, but that vote does not need to happen immediately.
During the past two weeks, Gaetz had issued a specific warning to McCarthy, saying that he would try to oust the speaker if he brought a short-term government funding bill to the floor that passed with help from Democrats.
True to his word, Gaetz made the motion to vacate on Monday, just three days after McCarthy put a so-called “clean” continuing resolution or CR on the floor to avert a government shutdown, passing it with 209 Democratic votes and 125 Republican votes.
It was absolutely quiet as Gaetz spoke on the House floor Monday evening announcing the motion. When he finished after about a minute, there was no reaction from the Democrats or Republicans gathered as he walked away up the aisle.
In response, McCarthy said, “Bring it on.”
Bring it on.
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) October 2, 2023
Earlier today, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) sided with McCarthy, expressing on X that there are no other members in the caucus willing to step forward and assume the role of Speaker if McCarthy were to be ousted.
“If the Speaker is vacated, the House comes to a halt, no bills can be passed, nothing can be done until we elect another Speaker,” wrote Greene.
I introduced articles of impeachment on Joe Biden on his first day in office.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) October 3, 2023
On Oversight, we are finally conducting an impeachment inquiry bc Kevin McCarthy launched it, and our country deserves the truth about Joe Biden.
If the Speaker is vacated, the House comes to a halt,…
