Kevin McCarthy: “I’ll give you the truth why I’m not speaker”

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said he was ousted as speaker because he refused to stop an ethics complaint against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) over allegations he had sex with a minor.

"I'll give you the truth why I'm not speaker," Mr. McCarthy said Tuesday at an event hosted by Georgetown University. "It's because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old."

The Florida firebrand, who led the opposition to Mr. McCarthy assuming the gavel at the start of the 118th Congress and then triggered the vote to remove him as speaker in October, was previously investigated by the Justice Department over sexual misconduct allegations.

After prosecutors declined to bring charges in February 2023, the House restarted its ethics investigation into the matter that had begun under Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) but was paused while federal prosecutors looked into it.

"Did he do it or not? I don’t know," Mr. McCarthy said. "But Ethics was looking at it. There's other people in jail because of it. And he wanted me to influence it."

Rep. Gaetz rejected Mr. McCarthy's claim, calling him a "liar."

"Kevin McCarthy is a liar. That's why he is no longer speaker," he said on social media. "Just ask the 224 people who voted to remove him."