Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Marjorie Taylor Greene turns on Matt Gaetz warning him not to ‘blow things up’ in Maga fight over Speaker

Republicans have yet to solidify their choice for top House role

John Bowden
Washington DC
Friday 23 December 2022 03:32 EST
Comments
Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert refuse to stand or applaud Zelensky

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Two members of the GOP House caucus are openly feuding over their respective choices for Speaker of the House.

Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, a supporter of Kevin McCarthy’s bid to be Speaker, opened fire on her frequent ally Matt Gaetz on Wednesday, torching him in an op-ed for The Daily Caller for his hopes that a consensus candidate would emerge to challenge the GOP leader.

Mr Gaetz and a number of other conservatives are pushing for a Speaker who is further to the right than Mr McCarthy.

But no one has emerged to challenge Mr McCarthy, and his allies like Ms Greene are fuming, accusing them of “deceiving conservatives”.

“Let’s start with my dear friend, Matt Gaetz. Many of his attacks against Kevin McCarthy are comparisons to Paul Ryan. It’s quite ironic given Matt’s very first vote in Congress was for Paul Ryan as Speaker. Even when we all knew Paul Ryan would never deliver the MAGA agenda,” wrote Ms Greene.

“We had full GOP control and President Trump, with pen in hand, ready to sign America First legislation. This Republican failure is why I ran for Congress,” she continued.

Ms Greene then went on: “All that said, Matt Gaetz is one of my favorite members of Congress. America needs his talent and intelligence to work alongside Jim Jordan on investigations for the Judiciary Committee, not blow things up before we begin.”

Mr Gaetz remains in Congress after surving a sex trafficking probe that let to the conviction of one of his close former allies, Joel Greenberg.

He also made headlines on Wednesday for skipping a security screening and playing around on his phone while Ukraine’s president addressed Congress.

But should he succeed in “blow[ing] things up”, Republicans could find themselves all but rudderless heading in to control of the House next year.

Republicans have promised a host of investigations targeting the Biden administration in the new year, and have the numbers to block most if not all of Joe Biden’s legislative agenda in the House.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in