Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy this past week came out and said that he was ousted from his position because Matt Gaetz was angry over the Ethics Committee’s investigation into him. But while trashing Gaetz, McCarthy let slip a detail about the investigation when he directly said that Gaetz was trying to cover up the fact that he had relations with an underage girl. This is the first time that McCarthy has come out and just said it, and that is a very important piece of information from someone with direct knowledge of the investigation. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
During a speech at Georgetown University this past week, former Republican representative and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, let slip a very important detail about Matt Gaetz and the ongoing House Ethics investigation into him. And no, I am not talking about the fact that McCarthy, once again stated that because he didn’t kill the investigation that’s why Matt Gaetz ousted him. That’s where McCarthy started. But then he revealed something and before I tell you what he revealed, and you may already know it, but let me drive this point home real quick. Kevin McCarthy is a guy who still regularly communicates with the members of the House Ethics Committee.
And of course, he was in charge technically as the Speaker of the House. He knows exactly what evidence they have looking at Matt Gaetz. He knows what the accusations are, and he knows what the witnesses have said. So when he tells us that Matt Gaetz did this, it’s because he’s seen the evidence. And I tell you that to preface McCarthy’s statement. Here’s what McCarthy said. I’ll give you the truth why I’m not speaker. Because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old, an ethics complaint that started before I ever became speaker. And that’s illegal, and I’m not gonna get in the middle of it. Now, did he do it or not? I don’t know. But Ethics was looking at it. There’s other people in jail because of it, and he wanted me to influence it.
Now, I know McCarthy said like, did he do it? I don’t know. But he said he slept with a 17-year-old. So you can try to correct yourself at the end all you want and be like, I don’t know if he did it or not. But you also literally said he did it. So either Matt Gaetz has a really good defamation lawsuit he could file against you because that is the kind of thing that meets the threshold even for an elected official. Or Kevin McCarthy is telling us what he has seen from the evidence and the witness statements and the testimonies. One of those things is true. I don’t know which one. We don’t know which one. We won’t know which one until the Ethics Committee actually finishes their investigation. But that is a shocking revelation. That is a shocking statement for McCarthy to come out and make. Because he didn’t say allegedly. He didn’t say he may have. He said he slept with a 17-year-old.
So I’m excited for the release of this final report from the House Ethics Committee. I don’t know when it’ll come. I don’t even know, by the way, if it comes out and reveals the most shocking and damning things about Matt Gaetz as possible, if it’ll even affect him in this district. It’s a deep red district, folks. I live here. They’re not gonna vote him out. They didn’t vote him out in 2022 when the federal investigation was still going on and all of the information was out there. So, maybe they will, maybe they won’t. Maybe he did nothing. Maybe he did everything. It’s all gonna depend on what’s in that final report. But still, Kevin McCarthy coming out and saying that openly this week is still exceptionally shocking.
