‘Shut Up, Gaetz… You’re an A**hole’: Matt Gaetz Confronted by Republican Committee Member for Taunting Kevin McCarthy

Armstrong Williams/X

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) made news on Tuesday night by crashing an interview with Kevin McCarthy at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday.

The former speaker was talking with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins when Gaetz accosted him.

“What night are you speaking? Are you speaking tonight?” the lawmaker said, getting in McCarthy’s face. “If you took that stage you would get booed off of it.”

Gaetz’s stunt did not sit well with Republican National Committee member Richard Porter of Illinois.

Immediately after the congressman told McCarthy he would be booed by the RNC crowd if he were to address the convention, Porter calmly gave Gaetz the business in a video posted on social media by a conservative pundit:

PORTER: Shut up, Gaetz.

GAETZ: Hey.

PORTER: Don’t be an asshole.

GAETZ: Dude, I don’t even know who you are, man.

PORTER: It doesn’t fucking matter who I am. Don’t be an asshole. You’re an asshole.

Gaetz walked away after Porter called him an “asshole” for a third time.

EXCLUSIVE: Congressman Matt Gaetz interrupts Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s interview on the floor of the RNC. Gaetz had to be physically held back by security and said “You’d get boo’ed off the stage if you were to speak” pic.twitter.com/unuY7kMib5

— Armstrong Williams 🇺🇸 (@Arightside) July 16, 2024

Gaetz genuinely loathes McCarthy. In October, he filed a motion to oust the then-speaker from his position. The gambit succeeded when a handful of Republicans joined the Florida man’s revolt. It took the Republican majority three weeks to settle on a replacement, finally landing on Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Gaetz has claimed he moved against McCarthy over broken promises. However, McCarthy alleges that Gaetz was incensed because McCarthy refused to quash a House Ethics investigation probing whether the lawmaker had sex with a 17-year-old. Publicly, Gaetz denies the sex and demanding McCarthy end the investigation. However, in January, The Daily Beast reported that Gaetz told colleagues in private that he wanted McCarthy to kill the probe.

Have a tip for us? tips@mediaite.com