Expelling George Santos from Congress was a mistake, according to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who will retire from the chamber at the end of the year.
“I would have leaned toward some other punishment for him,” said McCarthy, who was out of town during Santos’ Dec. 1 expulsion and did not vote.
The disgraced Long Island politician should have been able to “have his day in court” before the House took action, McCarthy added.
A censure, like the one Rep. Jamaal Bowman recently received for illegally pulling a fire alarm in the House of Representatives, would have been more appropriate, the California Republican said.
The former speaker, now on a farewell media tour, said he had received congratulatory calls and messages from world leaders and high-powered CEOs. But one person he hasn’t heard from is his replacement, current President Mike Johnson.
“He hasn’t asked for advice,” McCarthy said. “I wrote a note for whoever became a speaker and left it there with some advice.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says the expulsion of George Santos was a mistake. Getty Images Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy takes a final bow as he walks out the door. Getty Images McCarthy said that he didn’t know what the future held, but that he was open to many possibilities. fake images
“He’s been at the table with me for a long time and knows what to do,” said McCarthy, who declined to divulge the contents of his letter. “My job is to help him succeed in everything he can.”
Someone McCarthy won’t miss is his former nemesis in the House, Rep. Matt Gaetz. The outgoing speaker has spent weeks on a warpath against the Florida firebrand.
McCarthy has focused on an ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation into Gaetz, which has continued into 2021. Last week, the committee called a new witness to schedule an interview, suggesting the investigation continues. alive for 2024, CNN reported.
President Mike Johnson will have a tough job in 2024 corralling his wayward colleagues. AP
Gaetz faced a year-long federal sex trafficking investigation by the Justice Department, which said in February it would not file any charges against him.
McCarthy warned that the Ethics Committee would not be so generous.
“He doesn’t want what’s in that ethics complaint to come to light,” McCarthy said, insisting that the root of Gaetz’s animosity toward him was a misplaced view that he was responsible for instigating the investigation. “He is willing to destroy Congress if necessary. So it must be something very serious and it seems much more serious than whatever Santos is. [did].”
McCarthy said he believed the committee would uncover “criminal behavior” assuming “a deal had not been reached” with President Johnson to try to bury him.
McCarthy warned that his old enemy, Rep. Matt Gaetz, will soon have big problems of his own. ZUMAPRESS.com
When asked for a response, Gaetz offered his “thoughts and prayers to the former congressman.”
McCarthy said he has no regrets about how his last months in Congress went and believes that next year former President Trump will retake the White House and Republicans will expand their majority in the House.
“Joe Biden is not the same Joe Biden that I knew and worked with when I was vice president,” McCarthy said. “And if we treated this like a business or anything else, he wouldn’t be in the running to be our president.”
The former president said he was looking forward to what the future held and called reports that he might go to work for Elon Musk “a little crazy.”
“My experience has always been in business. I have an MBA and I love entrepreneurship, so I’ll probably do something in the business world,” McCarthy said.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn