Inside McCarthy and Gaetz’s Feud — and McCarthy’s Pleas for Democrats’ Help

The internal Republican fighting that led to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster in 2023 kept the House of Representatives in suspense for weeks and marked one of the most tumultuous periods in Congress.

McCarthy has routinely said that the reason he was targeted by then-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) was because of a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations that Gaetz had paid a minor for sex.

A new book by John Leganski, McCarthy’s longtime aide, titled “Glory, Grief and the Gavel,” set to be released on June 23 by Renergy Publishing, reveals new details about Gaetz’s obsession with the Ethics investigation. It also details the communications McCarthy had with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat. NOTUS received an advance copy of the book.

McCarthy claimed that the very personal fight over his leadership broke out in public after Gaetz privately pushed the California Republican to halt the Ethics investigation. And, when McCarthy refused, Gaetz moved ahead with a motion to remove him.

Gaetz has denied this, insisting he never mentioned the Ethics Committee investigation to McCarthy and that his quarrels with the then-speaker were policy-related.

Over August recess in 2023, the book says an outside McCarthy ally posted on X that Gaetz should blame himself, not McCarthy, for the investigation.

The post appeared to rattle Gaetz, who took a screenshot of the post and texted it to McCarthy.

“Very poor decision,” Gaetz said in the text, according to Leganski’s new book. “See you soon.”

The ominous text, Leganski said, resolved any doubt in their minds what Gaetz’s ultimate goal was and he and McCarthy decided there was nothing they could do on a policy level to change it.

When Gaetz made his intentions clear that he would move to vacate McCarthy from the speakership, Leganski said they had some “hope” that Democrats would help save the embattled speaker.

While Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told McCarthy in private that he “was not eager to vote with Matt Gaetz on such an important measure,” the book says, it appeared unlikely Democrats would ultimately come to McCarthy’s rescue.

In a private conversation with McCarthy, Jeffries expressed skepticism that his members would let him go along with it.

“You have five families, Kevin. I’ve got eleven,” Jeffries noted, referring to their party factions, according to the book.

In a statement to NOTUS, Gaetz said, ”At the time, McCarthy was trying to leverage me with his cronies on the Ethics Committee. He made various clumsy efforts to have people threaten me with ethics committee retaliation if I removed him. I was making it clear to Kevin that I wouldn’t respond to that pressure. I publicly stated what I wanted from Kevin, repeatedly - single subject spending bills. He failed. I removed him - with the backing of the majority of the House. I was not charged with any misconduct after the Biden FBI and DOJ investigated me for nearly half a decade. The ethics process was always just a political contrivance.”

Leganski reports the McCarthy camp became clear-eyed that Jeffries would be unlikely to allow his caucus members to vote to save the then-speaker. Leganski also admits that he “cannot imagine we would have been likely to step in to save him or Nancy Pelosi if the shoe were on the other foot.”

On October 3, 2023, the morning of the vote, McCarthy sent a message to Jeffries that would put the ultimate nail in his coffin.

“Just my opinion—don’t split your conference,” McCarthy texted Jeffries, according to the book. “This is my fight in my party.”

In the end, eight Republicans would vote with all Democrats to remove McCarthy as speaker — the first time in history the top leader was ousted in a House vote. This set off a nearly monthlong period where the House was without a permanent speaker. Louisiana Rep.Mike Johnson was elected to the post on October 25, 2023.