Florida Congressman John Rutherford slams Gaetz over McCarthy ousting

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Republican Congressmen John Rutherford of Florida's 5th District criticized Rep. Matt Gaetz following Congress’s vote to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House.

The final vote count stood at 216 to 210 on the motion to vacate brought against McCarthy by Gaetz.

“Today Representative Matt Gaetz (FL-01) led House Democrats and a handful of dissenters in handing the House back to the Far Left. It is a lie to characterize this as anything but a personal vendetta," Rutherford said in a statement.

He went on to say that Gaetz's "concern" for the American People is hollow.

Here is the rest of Rutherford's statement in full:

He claims to support cutting spending and securing our southern border, yet last week voted down a bill to cut nondefense discretionary spending by 30 percent and secure our border. He claims to support the military, yet voted against paying our troops – twice last week. He claims to support passage of single-subject funding bills, yet here we are today living out his personal vendetta against Speaker McCarthy instead of considering two single-subject appropriations bills scheduled to be on the floor. Rep. Gaetz is driving our nation toward the brink of another government shutdown, all for clicks and cash and a boost in his national profile. His disrespect for his colleagues, this institution, and the people we serve is a clear reflection of his lacking fitness to serve in Congress and has made him President Biden’s greatest ally. Over the past nine months, Speaker Kevin McCarthy has kept his Commitment to America, despite distractions by a small vocal minority. Speaker McCarthy led the Republican Conference in cutting $2 trillion in spending, streamlining energy permitting, passing historic border legislation, holding the Biden Administration accountable, reforming welfare programs, and rolling back soft-on-crime laws. I stand by this record, and hope we can put aside the childish gamesmanship playing out today and get back to doing the job of governing that we were elected to do.