McCarthy Suggests ‘Unhinged’ Matt Gaetz Was ‘On Something’ During Confrontation at RNC: ‘Hope He Gets the Help That He Needs’

Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) fired back at Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) after the Florida congressman confronted him at the Republican National Convention, telling CNN’s Manu Raju he thought Gaetz was “unhinged,” speculated he was on drugs, and reiterated accusations of sex trafficking a minor.

There’s been absolutely no love lost between McCarthy and Gaetz for a long time now, with the latter spearheading the former’s ouster from the speakership and McCarthy openly accusing Gaetz of being motivated by his desire to shut down a House Ethics Committee investigation into accusations that Gaetz was involved in a sex trafficking scheme that landed his former “wingman” Joel Greenberg in prison.

Greenberg was the former Seminole County Tax Collector who engaged in a truly bonkers scheme that started with him making false accusations against one of his 2020 primary opponents and led to a federal investigation into allegations of corruption, fraud, cryptocurrency scams, and sex trafficking. He pled guilty in 2021 to six criminal charges in a stunning 86-page plea agreement in which he admitted to paying for sex with an underage girl, giving her illegal drugs, and also “introduc[ing] the Minor to other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts” with her.

The still-unconfirmed identities of the “other adult men” involved have led to much speculation about Gaetz’s role — especially since security camera footage reportedly caught Gaetz accompanying Greenberg on a late-night weekend trip to the tax collector’s office in the area where Greenberg was stealing surrendered driver’s licenses to make fake IDs.

Gaetz has vociferously denied involvement in any of Greenberg’s crimes, but the two were close friends before his arrest, and Greenberg allegedly wrote a confession letter to none other than Roger Stone (seeking Stone’s help obtaining a pardon from then-President Donald Trump ) claiming he and Gaetz did in fact pay an underage woman for sex. The ongoing House Ethics investigation has reportedly involved obtaining Gaetz’s text messages and Venmo records and questioning women who said they attended drug-fueled parties where Gaetz was present.

On Tuesday, Gaetz interrupted McCarthy while he was being interviewed by CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins on the convention floor at the RNC in Milwaukee.

“What night are you speaking?” taunted Gaetz, who was a speaker himself Wednesday (and made a splash on social media for his bizarre appearance ). “If you took that stage you would get booed off of it!”

Raju sat down with McCarthy Thursday morning and started the interview asking about the “viral moment” of his confrontation with Gaetz. “What’s your response to him?”

McCarthy laughed heartily and then let loose on his Floridian nemesis.

“You know, he looks very unhinged,” he said. “I mean, a lot of people have concerns about it, and I’m not sure if he was on something, but I do hope he gets the help that he needs. But more importantly, I hope that the young women get the justice they deserve when it comes to him.

“You’re referring to the House Ethics Committee investigation that is ongoing –” said Raju.

“– With his partner in jail because they paid underage women for sex and drugs?” replied McCarthy. “Yeah, that’s what I’m referring to.”

“So, he has denied all of that. I’m wondering, doesn’t he deserve the presumption of innocence here?” asked Raju.

“Well, people are in jail,” said McCarthy. “The women have confirmed it. He came to me, if I decided I still wanted to be speaker, I could have done something illegal and stopped the Ethics Committee investigation that started four years before.”

“He told you to stop the Ethics Committee investigation?” asked Raju.

“Yeah, that’s what — that’s what the whole motion to vacate was about,” McCarthy said. “He believed — he wanted me to engage and thought somehow I started this investigation. It started long before I was ever speaker.” He said that he did not “get involved” in ethics investigations, and that committee “has to be its own arm and branch” to be free to investigate any member, including himself.

“And so he wanted to leverage me to try to do that and if I didn’t, he wanted to do a motion to vacate,” McCarthy added.

“He’s denied that, of course, that he urged you to stop the investigation,” said Raju.

“No, I had other members come to me. He came to me. I had other people who were on the committee that he talked to –” said McCarthy.

“– you had direct conversations about it?” asked Raju.

“Yeah, so no, there’s no denying it.” said McCarthy.

Later in the interview, McCarthy reiterated that he was “concerned” about Gaetz’s “actions with young women,” and hoped those women got the justice “that they’ve deserved all the way through.”

Watch the clip above via CNN .