Republican infighting
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Marshall
Kevin McCarthy-Matt Gaetz feud heats up months after the former speaker's ouster
The ever-evolving feud between former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz continued on Sunday as dueling stories emerged about an alleged offer centering on an House Ethics Committee investigation into Gaetz.Speaking to CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning, McCarthy referenced a motion filed last week by Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene aimed removing House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
McCarthy, who was voted out of the speakership in October after Gaetz filed a similar motion, gave advice to the Republican conference — and dinged Gaetz.
“The one advice I would give to the conference and to the speaker is: Do not be fearful of a motion to vacate,” McCarthy said Sunday. “I do not think they could do it again. That was surely based on Matt Gaetz trying to stop an ethics complaint.”
Pressed about his reference to Gaetz, McCarthy elaborated, saying, “It was purely Matt coming to me trying, trying [to get] me to do something illegal to stop the Ethics Committee from moving forward in an investigation that was started long before I became a speaker.”
A fateful conversation on the floor
Reached by phone on Sunday afternoon, South Carolina GOP Rep. Ralph Norman disputed McCarthy’s version of events. His assessment was based on a conversation he witnessed — but didn't hear — on the House floor between McCarthy and Gaetz that he found unusual because “they weren’t friendly.”Norman told NBC News that when Gaetz returned to sit near him after that conversation with McCarthy, he asked about their conversation and Gaetz told him that McCarthy had asked, “‘Do you want this to go away?’ or something like that.”
Norman added that Gaetz said he didn’t entertain the notion of an alleged offer in that conversation, and he said that McCarthy didn’t have the chance to ask for something in return for making the ethics investigation “go away.”
“I don’t think it even got that far,” Norman said. “The only thing Matt said was, ‘Kevin said, “Do you need the ethics violation to go away?”’”
Norman added, “And I think Matt — I’m trying to think — said, ‘No you’re the reason it’s there.’”
Gaetz’s office affirmed Norman’s account of the events to NBC News.
Reached by phone on Sunday afternoon and asked to respond to Norman’s comments, McCarthy laughed and told NBC News, “That’s bulls---.”
“What he’s referring to [is] on the floor, I’m talking to Gaetz, but then Gaetz brings up ethics to me,” he said, saying the conversation took place in May.
McCarthy added, “Apparently he got a letter from Ethics asking for documents. ... I told him, ‘I don’t know anything about this.’ I told him, ‘You gotta talk to [Ethics Committee Chair Michael] Guest.’”
The House Ethics Committee opened a probe into Gaetz in 2021 to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against him and former New York Rep. Tom Reed, who resigned from Congress in 2022. Federal investigators at the Justice Department were also looking into whether Gaetz and an associate, Joel Greenberg, used the internet to search for women they could pay for sex.
McCarthy and his then-legal counsel Machalagh Carr told NBC News that they believe the House ethics investigation was first opened during the speakership of Rep. Nancy Pelosi but was suspended pending the federal criminal investigation.
McCarthy said he was not aware exactly when it was reopened during his tenure as speaker. He added that he was not aware that the Ethics Committee investigation was reopened until another member of Congress told him about it in 2023 during a conversation in the speaker’s office.
Gaetz has not been charged with any crime, and he has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
McCarthy links the ethics probe to Gaetz’s motion to vacate
The feud between Gaetz and McCarthy came to the forefront when Gaetz triggered the vote last October that ultimately led to McCarthy’s ouster and led to Johnson getting elected speaker.McCarthy on Sunday afternoon maintained that Gaetz filed a motion to vacate because of his refusal to intervene in the ethics probe.
“What Gaetz was always trying to do was leverage me to try to do something in the Ethics Committee that I would not about his investigation,” McCarthy said.
“I never knew [the investigation] was going on. I’m not going to get in the middle of it. And they can do whatever they’re doing,” he added.
A spokesperson for the House Ethics Committee declined to comment.
Carr reiterated that McCarthy had no power to do anything Gaetz would have wanted him to do anyway, saying, “House leadership has a whole lot of power in a lot of different ways, but Ethics is specifically designed to be completely separate from that.”
“We don’t discuss what investigations are ongoing, how votes should happen,” she added. “Those conversations happen all sorts of ways on every other committee … but Ethics? There’s no communication about what they’re dealing with.”
NBC News on Sunday reviewed a copy of communications between Gaetz and a friend that McCarthy said proves Gaetz filed the motion to vacate the speakership due to the ethics investigation.
In a message, which NBC News agreed not to quote directly to avoid identifying the friend, Gaetz neither confirms nor denies that he’s considering filing a motion to vacate because he’s upset at McCarthy about the ethics investigation — although he made clear that he blamed McCarthy for his troubles.
Gaetz’s congressional office did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment on the communications.
McCarthy chided Gaetz, alleging the Florida Republican “would jeopardize the entire majority and try to remove me from the speaker to protect” himself from anything that could emerge publicly from the Ethics Committee investigation.
All the reasons Gaetz gave publicly for filing a motion to vacate McCarthy are moot now, another GOP member of Congress told NBC News.
“If Matt Gaetz believed in the rules so much and believed in regular order, and believed in single appropriation bills, he would have been screaming from the rooftops and demanding [another] motion to vacate and demanding that everyone get rid of [now-Speaker] Mike Johnson,” the member said.
McCarthy departed from Congress in December. Gaetz is running for re-election to his seat in November.
Polds4OSU
Marshall
Did we ever really think that Ben Shapiro hiring Candace Owens was going to work out ??
The Daily Wire’s Andrew Klavan spoke out about Candace Owens’s departure from the outlet on Friday, calling her out for her “wicked” use of Biblical Scripture to promote anti-Semitism.
Klavan, a secular Jew who converted to Christianity, identified Owens’s defense of the Nazis’ book burnings as the first warning sign in Owens’s descent into overt bigotry.
“When you start saying things like ‘some of those books Hitler burned weren’t so bad. You know, I was shocked-‘ this was something Candace actually said, ‘I was surprised to learn that the books Hitler was burning or the Nazis were burning, they weren’t good books. They were bad books, they were socialist books,” began Klavan. “Burning a book is the act of a a savage, first of all,” he added before insisting that Owens’s comments on the matter were a “dog whistle.”
“When you retweet a post saying a Jew is drunk on Christian blood, which goes back, as I’m sure you know, to blood libel that, you know, Jews eat Christian children. You know, that’s a dog whistle,” said Klavan, referencing Mediaite’s report about Owen’s liking such a tweet. “When you start to refer in this kind of clever way to a certain group of people in Hollywood corrupting blacks and killing Michael Jackson, you’re not allowed to then put on an innocent look and say, ‘Well, I’m just saying there’s certain people just like a few, you know, I’m just saying, you know,’ you’re messing with us, you’re messing with us and everyone knows it. And no one is fooled except those people who want to pretend to be fooled because they hate the Jews.”
Klavan reserved his harshest condemnation, however, for Owens’s citation of the Bible in defense of her anti-Semitic statements.
“You cannot serve both God and money,” declared Owens amidst a row with Ben Shapiro over Israel last fall. “Christ is King.” She’s repeated the phrase a number of times since, especially after being accuses of peddling anti-Semitism.
“The biggest truth that Candace told in that way that I find, again, and this is not personal animus toward her, but I find difficult to excuse this when anybody does it. The truth that hid wickedness that I thought was the most wicked truth to use, was the truth that Christ is King,” argued Klavan.
He continued:
Daily Wire Host Condemns Candace Owens and ‘Christ the King Anti-Semitic Crowd’ for Using Scripture ‘Like Satan Does in the Bible’
The Daily Wire’s Andrew Klavan spoke out about Candace Owens’s departure from the outlet on Friday, calling her out for her “wicked” use of Biblical Scripture to promote anti-Semitism.
Klavan, a secular Jew who converted to Christianity, identified Owens’s defense of the Nazis’ book burnings as the first warning sign in Owens’s descent into overt bigotry.
“When you start saying things like ‘some of those books Hitler burned weren’t so bad. You know, I was shocked-‘ this was something Candace actually said, ‘I was surprised to learn that the books Hitler was burning or the Nazis were burning, they weren’t good books. They were bad books, they were socialist books,” began Klavan. “Burning a book is the act of a a savage, first of all,” he added before insisting that Owens’s comments on the matter were a “dog whistle.”
“When you retweet a post saying a Jew is drunk on Christian blood, which goes back, as I’m sure you know, to blood libel that, you know, Jews eat Christian children. You know, that’s a dog whistle,” said Klavan, referencing Mediaite’s report about Owen’s liking such a tweet. “When you start to refer in this kind of clever way to a certain group of people in Hollywood corrupting blacks and killing Michael Jackson, you’re not allowed to then put on an innocent look and say, ‘Well, I’m just saying there’s certain people just like a few, you know, I’m just saying, you know,’ you’re messing with us, you’re messing with us and everyone knows it. And no one is fooled except those people who want to pretend to be fooled because they hate the Jews.”
Klavan reserved his harshest condemnation, however, for Owens’s citation of the Bible in defense of her anti-Semitic statements.
“You cannot serve both God and money,” declared Owens amidst a row with Ben Shapiro over Israel last fall. “Christ is King.” She’s repeated the phrase a number of times since, especially after being accuses of peddling anti-Semitism.
“The biggest truth that Candace told in that way that I find, again, and this is not personal animus toward her, but I find difficult to excuse this when anybody does it. The truth that hid wickedness that I thought was the most wicked truth to use, was the truth that Christ is King,” argued Klavan.
He continued:
Klavan went on to argue that Christianity forbids “all race hatred” because “it’s a sin against the image of God.” The title of the episode in which he addressed the controversy is “Because Christ Really Is King.”
Polds4OSU
Marshall
Republicans are the Swamp now
GOP lawmaker accuses fellow Republicans of plot to 'cripple' themselves
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) believes that members of her own party are part of a nefarious plot to destroy themselves.Appearing on Fox News Monday, Luna addressed the bitter infighting that's taken place within the House GOP in recent months and she accused Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO) and Mike Gallagher (R-WI) of committing acts of sabotage by retiring in ways that significantly damaged House Republicans' already slim majority.
"There are members that I believe have intentionally designed this to cripple a [House Speaker Mike] Johnson-controlled majority," she alleged. "They have been leaving... to lead us to gridlock. So if you are constituents in those areas, just, I'll tell you this, the swamp is alive and well in Washington."
The message that Luna delivered on Fox News was similar to a message she posted on Twitter over the weekend where she similarly lobbed charges of internal sabotage at the House GOP.
"These 'resignations' from Congress are perfectly timed and not by chance," she claimed. "It’s by design to cripple the majority. The swamp is real. If you’re tired of the same ol’ same ol’ STOP voting for people who are a part of the problem."
Republicans have for months been beset by infighting that was kicked off by Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-FL) decision to oust former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as House speaker.
This led Republicans to eventually elect Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as speaker, though not after several candidates for the job crashed and burned, including Reps. Steve Scalise (R-LA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Tom Emmer (R-MN).
Johnson has not fared much better in terms of uniting his caucus, however, and late last week Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) filed a motion to vacate Johnson as speaker, although she was cagey about when this measure would actually come up for a vote.
Polds4OSU
Marshall
Pretty wild quote
“The whack jobs who are running the recall against me said I am agent of the Chinese Communist Party,” he said at a WisPolitics.com luncheon. "That was the last text that they sent out in desperation to show people somehow that I am not a conservative Republican.
Trump backers try again to recall Wisconsin GOP Assembly speaker as first effort stalls
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Backers of former President Donald Trump are launching a second effort to recall Wisconsin Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos from office after the first attempt appears to have failed.
Recall organizers filed paperwork to start a second recall effort on Wednesday, just a day after they asked a court to give them more time to rehabilitate signatures that Vos challenged on the first recall petition. Organizers on Thursday said they weren't giving up hope on the first attempt, calling the new one a “concurrent” effort.
Vos was initially targeted for recall because he refused to impeach the state’s top elections official or proceed with attempting to decertify President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Wisconsin. His actions angered Trump, who accused Vos of covering up election corruption, while Trump’s followers mounted an unsuccessful primary challenge in 2022 and are now trying to force a recall election.
The second recall effort says he should be recalled because of his “tacit support for the Chinese Communist Party,” lack of commitment to election integrity, bocking lower prescription drug costs and “flagrant disrespect for his own constituents by calling them ‘whack-jobs, morons and idiots.’”
Vos made that comment last week when deriding the recall effort, including mocking their claims that he is secretly working for the Chinese government.
“The whack jobs who are running the recall against me said I am agent of the Chinese Communist Party,” he said at a WisPolitics.com luncheon. "That was the last text that they sent out in desperation to show people somehow that I am not a conservative Republican.
Vos, the longest serving Assembly speaker in Wisconsin history, declined Thursday to comment on the latest recall effort.
Recall organizer Matthew Snorek did not return an email seeking comment. Recall organizers said in a statement Thursday that their goal was “to fortify the integrity of the recall process, ensuring that each step we take is marked by precision, transparency, and trust.”
Ultimately, it's up to the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission to determine whether enough valid signatures are gathered to force a recall election. The commission has not voted on the first filing, but its initial review found that not enough valid signatures collected from residents of the district Vos was elected to represent.
But because Vos now lives in a different district under new maps the Legislature passed, the elections commission has asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to clarify where any recall would take place. Determining that would also dictate where petition signatures must come from and how many need to be collected.
The Supreme Court has not said yet whether it will rule on that question or when.
Recall organizers faced a Tuesday deadline to rebut challenges Vos made to their signatures. Instead, they asked the Dane County circuit court to give it more time to review the challenges. In a court filing, organizers asked that they have until five days after the Supreme Court rules on which district boundary is in effect.
The circuit court scheduled a Friday hearing in that case.
Vos has said the first recall petition fell “woefully short” of the signatures needed, no matter what legislative district is used, and was rife with fraud and criminal activity. The Racine County district attorney was also investigating claims that the petitions included names of people who did not sign it.
The elections commission has until April 11 to decide whether there are enough valid signatures on the original petition to order a recall election. Its decision can be appealed in court. If successful, the recall is likely to be scheduled in June.
The new recall petition would be due May 28, which means any recall election likely wouldn't be until September. That would put it after the Aug. 13 primary, where Vos could face a challenge ahead of the November general election.
Polds4OSU
Marshall
Retiring GOP House Rep Ken Buck - Lauren Boebert 'makes George Santos look like a saint,'
- Former Rep. Ken Buck recently sounded off against Lauren Boebert, who's now running for his seat.
- He said the congresswoman and her various controversies "makes George Santos look like a saint."
- Boebert has accused Buck of resigning early in order to make it harder for her to win his seat.
"She makes George Santos look like a saint," Buck can be heard saying on the audio heard on the "Dan Caplis Show." Buck was referring to the recently expelled New York Republican who's known for his myriad lies; Santos has been indicted on 23 charges, including wire fraud, identity theft, and money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty.
According to Politico, which first reported on the existence of the audio, Buck made those comments at a Rotary Club event after being asked about the controversial congresswoman.
"I've been asked about her moving across the mountains to run in the 4th congressional district, and I have not said anything," Buck can be heard saying before he references controversies surrounding her ex-husband and son, as well as her infamous "Beetlejuice" incident.
On Friday, Buck told Politico: "I went through a list of issues that I have not responded to that the press has asked me about. And I wasn't going to respond to that issue about her raising money off of me leaving, and somehow the motive for me leaving being to hurt her chances in the Fourth."
Boebert, appearing on the show to respond to Buck's comments, fired back: "Ken Buck is so irrelevant and such an embarrassment to Colorado… I really don't care what he's asked about me."
The two Colorado Republicans have been at loggerheads recently over Buck's decision to suddenly resign, which has triggered a special election in Colorado's 4th district.
Boebert, facing the prospect of an expensive reelection campaign and a potential loss to a Democrat in her old district, opted to move across the state and run in the 4th district in December after Buck announced that he would retire.
She had already faced accusations of "carpetbagging" and a potentially tough fight to stay in Congress.
But Buck's decision to leave even sooner than the end of his term — which also shaved down the House GOP majority upon his departure last Friday — makes her path to staying in office even harder.
She's already sworn off seeking the GOP nomination for the special election, given that she would trigger another special election in her old seat if she won. Later on Thursday, local GOP officials are set to choose another candidate, possibly one of her current primary opponents.
That means Boebert may have to run against someone who has been anointed by the local party to serve for at least 6 months in Congress, putting her at a greater disadvantage.
Polds4OSU
Marshall
Arizona GOP sells $1.9 million headquarters it bought 9 months ago
In 2023, the Arizona Republican Party purchased property in Phoenix that it planned to use as its headquarters. The acquisition was a big deal in conservative Arizona politics.
But on Saturday, March 23, according to Axios, the Arizona GOP decided to sell the third-floor office space only nine months after acquiring it.
Gina Swoboda, who chairs the Arizona GOP, told Axios that the space presented financial and logistical problems that could have been bad for Republicans in an election year.
"The AZGOP has been plagued by dysfunction and poor fundraising over the past few years, just as it attempts to fight back against recent Democratic political gains…. Currently, the party is paying about $11,300 monthly in HOA fees for the space. And because people can't get to the third-floor space without a badge, it's inaccessible to volunteers and others."
Those problems, according to Duda, have made it difficult for Arizona Republicans "to help campaigns and carry out get-out-the-vote activities."
Arizona will see some major statewide races in 2024 — not only the presidential race, but also, a U.S. Senate battle that is likely to find liberal Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and far-right MAGA Republican and conspiracy theorist Kari Lake battling for the Senate seat presently held by centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona). A former Democrat turned independent, Sinema has decided not to seek election.
According to Duda, the Arizona GOP purchased the Phoenix space for $1.9 million in June 2023.
In recent years, Arizona has seen plenty of infighting among Republicans, with traditional conservatives like GOP activist Meghan McCain openly expressing their disdain for far-right MAGA figures such as Lake.
The Associated Press, in October 2023, noted, "In Arizona, insurgent Republicans who castigated the more moderate members of their own party — who had once supported the late Sen. John McCain — won nominations for governor, U.S. Senate, secretary of state and attorney general. All of them lost to Democrats last November."
Polds4OSU
Marshall
Polds4OSU
Marshall
Top Republican Sounds Off On ‘Radical Individuals’ in House GOP ‘Chaos Caucus’ Amid Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Threats to Oust Speaker
A top Republican is sounding off about “radical individuals” in the House GOP’s chaos caucus just as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is threatening to oust against House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
In a Sunday interview on CBS’ Face the Nation with Ed O’Keefe, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) — who chairs the House Intelligence Committee — slammed those who are standing in the way of Johnson putting a Ukraine aid package on the floor.
“Unfortunately, the Chaos Caucus has continued to want to stop everything that occurs in Congress,” Turner said. “It’s not as if they have an alternative plan. They’re just against those things that are necessary… This is necessary for national security.”
Turner said that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) will not encourage Democrats to participate in any effort to vacate the speaker.
“[Jeffries] has made it absolutely clear that he will not join with rebels in the Republican side to take down Speaker Johnson on this,” Turner said. “And I think, we’re certainly going to see, broad support in Congress to get this job done.”
O’Keefe noted the 20 Republicans who have departed the House during the current Congress and asked Turner if any others are looking for the door. Turner said he does not know of any, and added a broader commentary about the state of affairs in the House.
“It shows that we can have radical fringes, even radical individuals — who don’t really have an ideology or an agenda other than chaos — that can cause disruptions,” Turner said. “And that’s what we have seen. That certainly makes it difficult for people who just want to get the job done.”
What a vindictive child. For the sake of maintaining our republic vote this charlatan out of office. Point out the lies to our uninformed friends and family. Ask them why foreign countries are supporting Trump electronically and more than likely financially. Ask our delusional family members how they can vote for such a vile and dangerous conman. Please help save our country from the propaganda ridden Trump supporters. Support and vote for Biden/Harris, far from perfect but won’t destroy our systems of government for their own ambitions, or to stay out of jail.
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mugatu
Sheriff
I'm waiting for JTOSU to call out the anger and 3rd grade insults.
mugatu
Sheriff
I live in an area where my house is in Trump land but my job is not. Still cracks me up to see the blind Trump support and ridiculous things on houses and trucks, i generally just internally shake my head and laugh.
Yesterday I parked behind and old-ish F150 with a bunch of flag magnets, and "MAGA country" sticker. Wasn't surprised until as I drove by, what I thought was a person in the passenger seat was actually a life sized cardboard Trump head in the windshield.
If you want to put dumb crap on your car, whatever go ahead and I'll just laugh at it. But come on, how can you possibly see to the right with that stupid thing blocking your view or think that was a good idea? I REALLY hope the guy takes it down every time he drives but I doubt he does.
There are serious problems in our country. Stabilizing Soc Security and the border are 2 big ones. But the majority of Magastanians have no idea how Trump will impact them.
So let’s say he follows through on limiting LEGAL immigration and deporting 10-15 million illegal immigrants. Then let’s say he makes drastic changes to the Affordable Care Act and Medicade.
Where is he going to get workers to support the economy?
Yep. Sr citizens by forcing them into hourly wage jobs bc they voted to raise the retirement age in the name of fixing Soc Security and 13-18 yr olds by relaxing age and hour restrictions.
Pushing more kids into the labor force (processing plants hard manual labor) contributes to the continued decline in education further reinforcing the bond between lower education and voting Republican.
They will also work to reduce/eliminate workplace regulations making it less safe for people already working long hours and hard work. And by eliminating Affordable Care Act and Medicade you will have more people without insurance working in less safe/healthy jobs.
Quit voting against your own and your family’s own interests.
You should tag him or he's just going to claim he somehow "didn't see it" and try to claim he calls it all out evenly.....when he happens to see it.
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JTOSU
Ranger
About Trump? I have multiple times. Yes this is another example of behavior that I cannot support and why I won’t vote for him.
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