'The whole country would scream at Matt Gaetz right now': McCarthy defends confrontation

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Thursday confirmed that he had confronted Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) at a GOP conference meeting.

According to reports, Gaetz began speaking while McCarthy had the floor. The former speaker was said to have yelled at Gaetz to sit down.

During a break in the meeting, McCarthy told reporters that he had not raised his voice.

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"I was speaking," McCarthy said. "And Matt Gaetz tried to interrupt. So I told him to sit down. And he sat down."

The former speaker noted that Gaetz had orchestrated his ouster.

"I think the entire conference screamed at him," he recalled. "People are, listen, the whole country, I think, would scream at Matt Gaetz right now."

"Remember, it was a 'crazy eights' led by Matt Gaetz and every single Democrat that put us into this situation," McCarthy added. "We've never been in this situation before. But how do you have 4% of your conference remove a speaker when 96% are there? This is why we're here. He had no plan afterwards."

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