Maria Bartiromo accuses Matt Gaetz of having a ‘vendetta’ against Kevin McCarthy

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was left to defend himself against accusations of holding a grudge against the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy.

Gaetz appeared on Fox News‘s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo following a segment discussing the imminent deadline to fund the government. By way of introduction, Bartiromo referred to Gaetz as “one of the people holding up an agreement to fund the government.” Throughout the interview, the two of them spoke over each other.

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“I’m glad I get to respond to you and your monologue because if you’re saying that I’m standing in the way of all the Republican wins, I’d love you to enumerate them,” Gaetz responded with a smile.

“Are you not right now indirectly working with Democrats because you are going to allow Chuck Schumer to come up with a continuing resolution next week to fund the government? That’s what your actions are doing,” Bartiromo said. “That’s why some people feel this is a personal vendetta you have against the speaker.”

“My vendetta is against a Washington system that allows corruption to put the interests of lobbyists and PACs above the interests of the American people,” Gaetz retorted. “Kevin McCarthy facilitates that system, and I do deeply resent that, but I’m not working with Chuck Schumer or any other Democrat.”

The Florida representative went on to say that he disagreed with McCarthy’s decision to have only one up or down vote on the entire government’s funding, where he’d rather vote on each budget item, line by line. Gaetz went on to imply that he would vote for the current Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, along with the bills on homeland appropriations, agriculture, and state and foreign operations. At the same time, he hinted that he wouldn’t vote for the Department of Labor or Education’s funding.

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“Kevin McCarthy promised that in January. He is in breach of that promise,” Gaetz said. “I’m not here to hold the government hostage, I’m here to hold Kevin McCarthy to his word.”

The deadline to fund the government is on Sept. 30.