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By Matthew Impelli
Life & Trends Reporter
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A video showing Florida Representative Matt Gaetz interrupting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during a live interview has gone viral on social media.
On Tuesday, Joe Khalil of NewsNation shared a video on X, formerly Twitter, showing the moment Gaetz attempted to interrupt McCarthy while he was speaking during a live interview. "Very awkward moment- Congressman Matt Gaetz tries to interrupt former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's interviews, taunting him," Khalil wrote on X.
In the video, Gaetz is seen walking toward McCarthy and asked, "Hey Kevin, what night are you speaking? Are you speaking tonight?"
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As the video continued, Gaetz is seen being ushered away from McCarthy when the Florida Republican moved closer to McCarthy once again, saying, "If you took that stage, you would get booed off of it."
"You would get booed off the stage," Gaetz said again.
The video had received over 575,000 views on X as of 6 p.m. EST.
Newsweek reached out to Gaetz's office via email for comment. Newsweek also reached out to McCarthy's former communications director via email for comment.
Gaetz has been vocal in his criticism of McCarthy over the past several months as successfully filed a motion last year to oust McCarthy from his role as House Speaker.
McCarthy, a California Republican, served as speaker of the House from January to October of 2023, presiding over a razor-thin GOP majority and a caucus bitterly divided between more moderate members and those further to the right. Following a deal with Democratic members to get a temporary government funding bill passed, Gaetz filed a motion to oust McCarthy from the speakership, leading to the first ouster of a sitting speaker by a floor vote during a session of Congress.
In March, McCarthy spoke about Gaetz's efforts to have him removed as House Speaker where he referenced an issue the Florida Republican had with the House Ethics Committee dating back to 2021, which alleged that, according to The New York Times, "he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use and accepted impermissible gifts under House rules, among other allegations.
"It was about a personal thing that he had done, and that's what he was trying to get something illegally stopped...I think the Ethics Committee, it was purely Matt coming to me, trying [to get] me to do something illegal to stop the Ethics Committee from moving forward [with] an investigation that was started long before I became speaker," McCarthy said on CBS News' Face the Nation in March.
Commentator Armstrong Williams shared another angle of the video and wrote, "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.'"
Update, 7/16/24, 6:50 p.m. EST: This story has been updated with further information.
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