Kevin McCarthy says Matt Gaetz should get professional help after viral spat: 'He looks very unhinged'

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McCarthy returns shots from Gaetz after he interrupts CNN interview, tells him to get 'help'

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy returned fire after Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., crashed his live CNN interview.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., should get professional help the morning after his rival video-bombed his live interview on CNN during the Republican National Convention. 

"You know, he looks very unhinged," McCarthy said about Gaetz on Thursday. "I mean, a lot of people have concerns about him, and I'm not sure if he's on something, but I do hope he gets the help that he needs. But more importantly, I hope that young women get the justice they deserve when it comes to him." 

McCarthy was referring to a House Ethics Committee probe into allegations Gaetz "engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct." The committee also noted that Gaetz denies all allegations. 

The comments on Gaetz being purportedly "unhinged" followed the Florida lawmaker mocking McCarthy during a live CNN broadcast. 

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Kevin McCarthy continued the rivalry with his political enemy, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., on CNN Thursday morning.  (Getty Images)

"What night are you speaking? Are you speaking tonight?" Gaetz mocked as McCarthy was not on the roster. 

"[The] person who raised the issue, he‘s got an ethics complaint about paying, sleeping with a 17-year-old. That‘s the way they would go, so that‘s the biggest challenge we have," McCarthy said during the CNN interview, referring to Gaetz while ignoring his taunts.

"If you took that stage you would get booed off of it," Gaetz added. 

Gaetz and McCarthy have had an infamously tumultuous relationship. McCarthy alleged on CNN that Gaetz had asked him to make the ethics probe go away, and then initiated a bipartisan effort to get him struck from being House speaker. 

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Gaetz filed a "motion to vacate" in October, accusing McCarthy of poor leadership, cooperating with Democrats and abandoning conservative ideals. The House voted 216-210 in favor of the motion, marking the first time in U.S. history that a sitting speaker was removed by such a vote. 

Matt Gaetz Kevin McCarthy interview CNN (CNN)

"We're concerned about the future of the conservative agenda in the House," Gaetz said at the time. "I would say that the conservative agenda was being paralyzed by Speaker McCarthy."

McCarthy called the small Republican coalition that joined Democrats in removing him "The Gaetz Eight."

"What Matt Gaetz did has broken the Republican majority. He's now created ‘Lord of the Flies.’ Ask anybody inside our conference; they actually know it," he said. 

Two months after his historic ouster as U.S. Speaker of the House, McCarthy announced he would be resigning by December 2023. 

Rep. Matt Gaetz speaks on Day 3 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 17, 2024.  (REUTERS/Mike Segar)

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Gaetz has been under a years-long House ethics investigation, spurred by the Department of Justice (DOJ), looking into reports in early 2021 that he had a relationship with an underage girl. The DOJ declined to charge Gaetz in 2023.

Gaetz denies all allegations. 

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The Associated Press and Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.