In an interview on C-SPAN2, former Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy said he was kicked out of his job because he wouldn't protect Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz from an ethics inquiry into his alleged sexual encounter with a seventeen-year-old.
KEVIN MCCARTHY: Let's get to the bottom of that. That is such a misnomer in life. Let me give you the truth about that now.
And I'll give you the truth why I'm not Speaker. It's because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old.
An ethics complaint that started before I ever became Speaker. And that's illegal. And I'm not going to get in the middle.
Did he do it or not? I don't know, but an ethics [probe] is looking at it. There's other people in jail because of it. And he wanted me to influence it.
And you know what? So then they come out and they say, [it's] because I kept government open. I'd do it all over again.
In 2021, Rep. Matt Gaetz was being investigated by the feds over a possible relationship with a seventeen-year old girl.
Now after the DOJ refused to bring charges against him for sex trafficking, the House Ethics Committee is investigating his behavior.
On March 14, 2024, ABC News reported that "Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., was served a subpoena to sit for a deposition in a civil lawsuit that involves allegations he had sex with a 17-year old-girl, sources tell ABC News, as part of a suit brought by a friend of the congressman against the young woman and others."
Still, Quevin is definitely engaging in some revisionist history.
