House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Tuesday that he won’t offer Democrats any deals in exchange for their votes on a motion to vacate his speakership, which the House will begin considering later in the day.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., introduced a motion to vacate the speaker’s office on Monday. McCarthy can only stand to lose a handful of votes, prompting speculation that he could seek help from across the aisle.
McCarthy, however, quashed the notion on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box,’ declaring, ‘They haven’t asked for anything, and I’m not going to provide anything.’
‘Are we now in a situation in our government that we just provided keeping government open, that we’re going to play politics with how you become speaker? If that’s the case, then I think we’ve got real problems,’ he said.
McCarthy said he refuses to put House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries ‘in any position at all, and I respect whatever decision anybody makes.’
McCarthy said Gaetz has had it out for him ‘from the very beginning.’
‘He’s been blaming me for an ethics complaint against him that happened in the last Congress I have nothing to do with,’ McCarthy said. ‘He wants me to try to wipe that away. I’m not going to do that. That’s illegal. And you know what? If someway I lose my job because I uphold the law because I uphold the continuity of government, so be it.’
The House Ethics Committee has been investigating Gaetz since 2021 on allegations, including campaign finance violations as well as claims of taking bribes and using drugs — accusations the congressman has vehemently denied. Gaetz also denies allegations leaked from a Justice Department sex trafficking probe said to have involved an underage girl.
Fox News’ Daniel Wallace contributed to this report.