Rep. Matt Gaetz said Monday that he’s been consulting with former President Donald Trump as he looks to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy, adding a new layer of intrigue to the affair that could derail the GOP’s agenda in Washington.
Mr. McCarthy traded barbs with Mr. Gaetz, a Florida Republican who has said he intends to move to “vacate” the speakership, calling a vote this week that could eject Mr. McCarthy from the House’s top post.
The speaker accused Mr. Gaetz of trying to win over Democrats to his cause by offering them a power-sharing arrangement that would give them the ability to issue their own subpoenas.
“Matt has been going to Democrats and offering them subpoena power, which will just destroy any Biden impeachment inquiry,” Mr. McCarthy, California Republican, said on Fox News. “And I just don’t think that’s good for the House. I don’t think it’s good for the country. And what my point is, bring it on, let’s get it over with let’s get this over.”
Mr. Gaetz took to the House floor to accuse the speaker of trying to cut a side deal with Democrats to vote on legislation to fund U.S. support for Ukraine’s war with Russia in exchange for Democrats supporting a stopgap bill that kept the government from shutting down Sunday.
“It is going to be difficult for my Republican friends to keep calling President Biden feeble, while he continues to take Speaker McCarthy’s lunch money, and every negotiation,” Mr. Gaetz said.
Mr. McCarthy denied the allegation, saying that he did talk about Ukraine funding in the stopgap bill but struck no deals about future funding.
The speaker has been on shaky ground since the start of this Congress, when Republicans took control of the House with a slim majority. Mr. McCarthy had to make it through 15 ballots to win the speakership. One concession was to allow a single lawmaker to move to vacate the chair, a parliamentary motion that kicks off a vote on the fate of the speaker.
If a majority of members vote for it, Mr. McCarthy would be ousted and the House would then have to elect a new speaker.
It’s not clear how much support Mr. Gaetz has, though some noteworthy Republicans signaled they would not back him.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican and prominent GOP rebel, called it a “bad idea” that would leave conservatives with less power as Congress works on a year-long spending deal.
“Creating a Republican vacancy in the Republican-controlled House, while [Senate Majority Leader Charles E.] Schumer & [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell lead the Senate, seems like a recipe for an Omnibus,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
An omnibus is a massive spending bill, with all government funding piled together. Avoiding an omnibus spending bill has been one of Mr. Gaetz’s main issues as he challenges Mr. McCarthy.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, also weighed in against ejecting Mr. McCarthy, saying it would “give the upper hand to the Democrats.”
She also objected to moves to expel Mr. Gaetz if an Ethics Committee report came back with derogatory findings against him.
“Republicans need to get off the power trips, stop the absurd drama, remember who the enemy is, stop fighting with each other, and get serious about solving the problems that produce annual systemic failure,” she wrote on X.
Mr. Gaetz said he decided to push the issue after Mr. McCarthy moved to avert a government shutdown with the stopgap spending bill. It continued all current funding for 45 days and lacked any of the new restrictions the GOP wanted to include.
The bill passed on a strong vote, with Democrats united behind it while Republicans were split.
Mr. Gaetz has not said if he has an alternative to Mr. McCarthy in mind.
Mr. McCarthy has said he’s confident he will survive the fracas.
“With Matt it’s personal,” Mr. McCarthy said. “Matt voted against that conservative stopgap that put us in the problem. And then when I had to keep the government open, he now wants to make a motion to vacate.”
Mr. Gaetz, who has been fundraising off his anti-McCarthy crusade, told reporters on Monday that he has spoken to Mr. Trump about the effort. The former president remains by far the most influential figure in the Republican Party and holds significant sway with a large chunk of the House GOP.
Mr. Trump has not publicly taken sides, telling reporters, “I don’t know anything about those efforts. I like them both very much.”
Democrats face a decision on how to approach the upcoming vote. They could help topple him, further deepening the rift within the House GOP, but they could also use the moment to extract concessions from Mr. McCarthy.