(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has levied some salacious accusations against Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., asserting that Gaetz had “slept with a 17-year-old.”
McCarthy made these claims while attempting to explain what incited Gaetz to file the contentious motion to vacate the speakership, ultimately leading to his ouster in 2023.
In McCarthy’s view, Gaetz’s alleged desire for the dismissal of the ethics complaint—rather than the bipartisan government funding bill, which McCarthy endorsed—was the catalyst for his loss of the speakership.
“I’ll give you the truth why I’m not speaker. Because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old,” McCarthy asserted at an event at Georgetown University on Tuesday. “Did he do it or not? I don’t know.”
Specifically, McCarthy alleged that Gaetz urged his interference with the ethics complaint. The former speaker claimed that such an action would have been illegal, particularly since it had originated before he assumed the speakership in 2023.
Despite McCarthy’s assertions, Gaetz, along with seven other Republicans, voted to remove him as speaker over the California Republican’s willingness to work with President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats to avert a government shutdown in 2023.
The Gaetz’s ethics complaint began during the tenure of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the Democratic Party, which then held the House majority.
At the crux of the allegations lies a criminal investigation into sex trafficking. While Gaetz was never formally charged with a crime, his longtime associate Joel Micah Greenberg pleaded guilty to six federal charges related to the investigation.
According to the DOJ, Greenberg paid for commercial sex acts, including with an individual who was a minor. Greenberg introduced the then-underage girl to other individuals who engaged in “commercial sex acts” with her.
He pleaded guilty to six charges, including sex trafficking of a child, illegally producing a false identification document, aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, stalking and conspiracy.
In February 2023, the DOJ informed Gaetz that they would not prosecute him over what media has speculated as an alleged sexual relationship with the minor.
Gaetz has dismissed the claim of involvement with a 17-year-old as fictional. His office did not respond to Headline USA’s calls on Wednesday.
