A motion by Rep. Matt Gaetz to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker is found in Capitol
A motion by Rep. Matt Gaetz to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker is found in Capitol BATHROOM
- Resolution on vacating McCarthy from his speakership was found in a bathroom under the House floor next to a coffee on a baby changing table
- It ‘declared the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives to be vacant’
- Motion was drafted just three days after McCarthy announced an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden
A resolution from Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz seeking to vacate Kevin McCarthy‘s House Speakership seat was discovered in a Capitol Hill bathroom on Wednesday.
Journalist Matt Laslo wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the short motion was found on a baby changing table in a restroom beneath the House floor. He posted images of the single-sheet of paper folded in half next to a cup of coffee.
The motion was ‘declaring the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives to be vacant,’ and included a draft date of September 15, 2023 at 11:22 a.m. – just three days after Speaker McCarthy announced the opening of the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Rep. Gaetz is part of the pro-Trump MAGA branch of the Republican Party and was part of the group of Freedom Caucus members opposing McCarthy’s bid for Speaker when Republicans took the House in the 2022 midterms.
He is one of the most vocal critics of McCarthy.
A resolution on vacating Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his post was found in the bathroom beneath the House floor next to a coffee on a baby changing table
The motion was ‘declaring the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives to be vacant,’ and included a draft date of September 15, 2023 at 11:22 a.m.
It is unclear how Gaetz’s resolution ended up in the bathroom, and who left it there.
McCarthy’s office did not respond to a request for comment on discovery of the resolution.
The same day McCarthy announced the impeachment inquiry following months of pressure from the far-right arm of the GOP, Gaetz warned the Speaker launching the probe to appease the right wing will not save him from potential ousting.
‘I’ve fallen for this mirage before,’ Gaetz said Tuesday of the impeachment inquiry.
‘Obviously McCarthy wasn’t serious about Mayorkas impeachment,’ he said of the time the Speaker went down to the southern border to ‘gaslight’ about attempts to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
‘The first thing that happens is that Kevin McCarthy gets worried that he’s going to lose power, like he did in January, and like he has in the recent weeks as I’ve been mounting pressure on him,’ Gaetz noted. ‘And then the second thing he does [is] indicate that there is some upcoming impeachment or impeachment inquiry, and the reality is to date that has just been the slow boat to China. It hasn’t been authentic or sincere or robust.’
Some claim that there were threats to remove McCarthy if he didn’t launched impeachment.
The discovery of Rep. Matt Gaetz’s one-page motion follows McCarthy announcing an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Gaetz is one of the biggest GOP critics of McCarthy
But Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a fellow MAGA lawmaker, assured there were no threats against McCarthy.
The first impeachment proceedings are set for next Thursday in the House Oversight Committee, which is chaired by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.).
By launching an inquiry, House investigators are given expanded abilities, including a heightened power to subpoena. The panel has already subpoenaed the bank records of President Biden’s son Hunter and brother James.
There is speculation that the inquiry could result in the subpoena of Joe and Hunter Biden’s testimony to Republican House investigators.