Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) laid into far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on CNN Monday, as the latter ramps up his threats to call a vote to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) following his bipartisan deal to temporarily keep the government open.
Far from McCarthy breaking the caucus rules like Gaetz claims, Lawler told CNN's Jake Tapper, it's Gaetz who is breaking the rules.
"So on the house floor today ... Gaetz accused Speaker McCarthy of making a secret deal with President Biden on this aid for Ukraine," said Tapper. "McCarthy denies that, although President Biden did say there was some sort of deal when it comes to Ukraine, I'm not really sure what the president's talking about. But there is the bigger issue here, is that there is no money for Ukraine in this spending bill that passed Saturday. I believe that you support further aid for Ukraine. What's going to happen, what should Congress do?"
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"Well, listen, I was not willing to shut down the American government over foreign aid. To me that would be unacceptable," said Lawler. "I do support the spending in Ukraine, to support their efforts and to beat back Russian aggression. Russia is in an unholy alliance with China, North Korea, and Iran. It's a threat to the United States economy, and our national security. So, we need to combat that malign influence of Russia. But that is going to have to be negotiated. There's no secret deal, there's no side deal, it's a reality. The president and the Senate are pushing for more funding in Ukraine. A majority of members in the House support funding in Ukraine. So, it's a reality that we have to deal with."
"The question is, will we get border security for the American people?" Lawler continued. "Will we get spending cuts on behalf of the American people? To right-size a bloated and out of control federal government? That is what is going on here. So for Matt to say, oh, this is some secret deal, wake up, dude. I mean, this is absolutely ridiculous, and it's just him trying to latch onto something else to create chaos, and try to use as a vehicle to remove the Speaker."
"I would note, Matt Gaetz refers to the Speaker breaking promises, the Speaker breaking the rules — the only person who has broken the Republican conference rules is Matt Gaetz," added Lawler. "He voted against the majority of the majority when it came to our choice for Speaker, he voted to take down rules on the House floor, and now, despite the fact that our conference rules require a majority of the majority to bring a motion to vacate, he's threatening to do it himself. So, Matt has been a singular destructive force within the conference, and the American people should understand that what he is doing is not conservative. It is not conservative Republicanism. He is a charlatan. And I stand by that."
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