On Thursday, Fox News host Geraldo Rivera bashed Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) in a contentious interview, demanding to know why he and 19 other Republicans “tortured” now-House Speaker Kevin. McCarthy (R-CA).
“What in the world were you and your 19 colleagues doing torturing the speaker, your speaker, your speaker-designate Kevin McCarthy?” Rivera said when the two appeared on “Hannity.” “What was that for? What did you hope to attain in that?”
“So, first of all, I’ve got some constituents in the military that could talk to you about real torture,” Gaetz said. “I don’t think sitting through 15 votes quite qualifies.”
“We believe that instead of having omnibus spending legislation that comes to us with only a few hours to consider thousands of pages and then vote on something that funds every agency of the government all at once, that we should take individual votes on appropriations bills,” Gaetz continued. “That’s a concession we didn’t have when voting began. It’s one we earned by the time it ended.”
“We also believe that when bills are considered, they should conform to a single subject so I don’t have to do what I’ve had to do in the past, and vote on the farm bill at the same time you’re voting on whether or not there’s gonna be war powers in Yemen. We also wanted open amendments so Republicans or Democrats could offer germane adjustments to legislation and everyone could take votes on these things. You know, members of Congress, speakers, they come and go, but when–,” Gaetz said before Rivera interrupted.
“Congressman, with your filibuster right now, you are portraying yourself to the American people as a thoughtful legislator,” Rivera said.
“Thank you,” Gaetz said, before Rivera continued, “And yet, the publicity that you get – characteristically – almost inevitably is flamboyant, it’s confrontational–” Rivera said before the two, as well as host Sean Hannity, began contentious crosstalk.
“I make a substantive argument about changes to the process and you call me flamboyant and confrontational?” the representative said.
“He answered your very specific question about what he was fighting for,” Hannity added. “My only argument – and Matt and I talked in December, you can verify this as true – my only beef with everybody was I wanted everybody to be in full agreement by January 3rd. Four days, it came and went. Now everybody’s on the same page.”
Rivera has been in hot water with critics for several weeks, after he posted a take to Twitter, suggesting that the Republican House’s focus on investigating President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden over their past business dealings shouldn’t be a priority.
Rivera was also critical of the appointment of special counsels for both President Biden and former President Donald Trump in regard to their possession of classified documents being in possible violation of federal law.
“Appointing a Special Counsel to investigate President Biden is as lame as it was to raid & relentlessly probe President Trump,” he said on Twitter Friday. “Scold both of them. Revoke their library cards. Then, for the good of the country, move on. This case has 0 impact on the American people.”
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