Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was interrupted while giving an interview at the Republican National Convention (RNC) by one of his rivals.
A video from Tuesday showed McCarthy speaking to a reporter when Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) — who led the push to oust him as speaker — saw him and decided to taunt him mid-interview.
“What night are you speaking?” Gaetz asked in an apparent shot at McCarthy. “Are you speaking tonight? If you took that stage, you would get booed off it, you would get booed off the stage.”
Watch the video below:
A different angle of the incident showed McCarthy speaking to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, apparently about his ouster as speaker.
And when Gaetz started his taunt, McCarthy noted the ethics complaint against him, saying, “He’s got an ethics complaint of sleeping with a 17-year-old.”
His comment referenced an investigation by the House Ethics Committee into Gaetz involving allegations of sex crimes.
Politico notes, “Its probe comes after the Justice Department last year closed its investigation into the Florida representative without filing charges. The DOJ was examining whether Gaetz paid women for sex and traveled overseas to parties attended by underage teens.”
ABC News reported in February the panel uncovered texts that allegedly showed Gaetz planning a 2017 trip with a woman one of his associates paid for sex. .
Gaetz has denied wrongdoing.
A bystander witnessing Gaetz’s behavior at the convention said, “Shut up, Gaetz! Don’t be an a**hole… You’re an a**hole!”
