OAN’s Abril Elfi
3:31 PM – Thursday, September 28, 2023
Republican Representative Matt Gaetz reportedly confronted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at a closed-door House GOP conference meeting, accusing the speaker of being behind a social media campaign targeting him.
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On Thursday, McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Gaetz (R-Fla.) had a heated argument behind closed doors after Gaetz accused McCarthy of orchestrating a negative social media campaign against the Florida Republican, which McCarthy denied.
Gaetz told the press that he had asked McCarthy if he was paying people to create false narratives about him online.
“I asked McCarthy a direct question: Were you out there paying for people to try to create a false negative sentiment about me online?” Gaetz said. “And his non sequitur retort was that he was giving out two and a half million dollars to other Republicans at breakfast. And I asked him how much of that money he’d gotten from FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried.”
However, the house speaker denied any involvement in the “anti-Gaetz” campaign, and his outside legal counsel allegedly delivered a cease-and-desist letter to the individual responsible for the solicitations earlier this week. The name of the person involved was not made public to the press and is currently unknown.
According to a House Republican who wished to remain anonymous, McCarthy reportedly told Gaetz that he was busy doing his job, trying to run the conference, and also inferred that he was not worried about Gaetz’s theories.
The Florida Republican also reportedly said that McCarthy “mumbled and said that he didn’t think enough of me to do that.”
According to another House Republican who spoke to the press on the condition of anonymity, Gaetz accused McCarthy of “masterminding outside money attacking him.”
The surprising encounter happened after social media users posted pictures of messages they received from accounts asking for help with an advocacy campaign “against Gaetz and the government shutdown.”
“Howdy! Got an advocacy campaign with budget. Do you do paid posts? If so how do you work? By the way, the issue is against Gaetz and government shut down. Let me know asap!” the message read.
According to a copy of the letter obtained by the media, McCarthy’s cease-and-desist letter was asking different social media influencers to criticize Gaetz on McCarthy’s behalf.
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