'Living a lie': Matt Gaetz appears to out fellow Republican colleague on podcast

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) took a swipe at House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R) on his podcast Thursday — and heavily implied that he is a closeted gay man, although Gaetz did not say this outright and did not provide any hard evidence of this.

Gaetz began with complaining that Smith, who was highly critical of his motion to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the House speakership, had said on the Marc Cox Morning Show "if Matt Gaetz's lips are moving, it's only lies that's coming out of it. That gentleman only likes to propel himself and propagandists. He sounds like a Democrat ... the blood is on his hands for 22 wasted days."

Gaetz hit back.

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"Congressman Jason Smith ... has been one of the most loyal lapdogs for former Speaker McCarthy, and for the lobbyists and special interests on K Street," said Gaetz. "See, Jason Smith has achieved power in Washington the way most people do. You get money from the lobbyists and special interests, you in turn give that money to the party bosses for their political funds, and then they allow you to move up."

"Jason Smith says if my lips are moving, I'm lying," said Gaetz. "Well you know what? If Jason Smith is breathing, he is living a lie. There might not be another member of Congress who lives a lie more than Jason Smith. And Jason Smith knows exactly what I'm talking about. And by the way, so does almost every member of the House Republican Caucus. So there's a good deal of projection in Jason Smith calling me a liar when it's Jason Smith who literally has to live a lie. And I honestly pity him for that, because, you know, it wouldn't be something that — I wouldn't live that way. I'll just put it that way."

"So Jason, I would check yourself before you come at me with any accusations of, of being dishonest about what I say, when you're dishonest about how you live and what you do," Gaetz continued.

All of this comes as the House Ethics Committee moves forward with an ethics investigation into Gaetz, over accusations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use — a follow-up to a criminal sex trafficking investigation into the congressman, which concluded with charges against one of his associates but not against Gaetz himself.

Watch the video below or at the link right here.