WASHINGTON — Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz enraged multiple Republican lawmakers and pundits after leading the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Reports that Gaetz's fellow House Republicans might move to expel him started to circulate the weekend before Gaetz's motion to oust McCarthy came to a vote. The reports speculated that a possible expulsion of Gaetz would stem from the findings of the House Ethics Committee.
The committee reopened an investigation into Gaetz's behavior in July to continue examining allegations that Gaetz violated sex trafficking laws, used illicit drugs and accepted bribes, among other accusations.
'Cawthorned'?
As some of those allegations began to publicly resurface in the wake of McCarthy's ouster, the word "Cawthorned" began trending on social media amid speculation that the GOP could be preparing a retaliation against the Congressman akin to that of former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn.
In 2022, Cawthorn angered fellow House Republicans by claiming in an interview that a lawmaker had invited him to an orgy and other prominent Washington figures had done cocaine in front of him. In subsequent months, scandalous photos and videos of Cawthorn began to leak along with stories that he engaged in insider trading among other breaches of ethics.
Cawthorn ultimately lost his primary to then-state senator Chuck Edwards.
Gaetz' behavior
While allegations that Gaetz violated sex trafficking laws or behaved inappropriately are not new, they have rarely resurfaced since February when the U.S. Department of Justice decided not to bring charges against Gaetz after conducting its own investigation.
This week, however, prominent Washington Republicans began to go on record about Gaetz's alleged improprieties. Marc Short, former chief of staff to Mike Pence, told Jake Tapper on CNN that Gaetz was hypocritical to paint himself as a fiscal crusader despite his own voting record on spending.
"To say he came here as a fiscal crusader, it's more likely he came here for the teenage interns on Capitol Hill, to be honest," Short said.
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin also openly referred to allegations made against Gaetz for sex trafficking underage girls.
"No one in the conference came to defend him, because we had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor of the girls that he had slept with. He'd brag about how he would crush ED medicine and chase it with an energy drink so he could go all night," Mullin said.
The senator later added during an appearance on Newsmax that Gaetz's behavior did not gain him any support among fellow House members or the media, and that it took publicly opposing then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to gain him fame and attention.
Then Mullin continued to paint Gaetz in a negative light.
"He would go out on evening news programs, and he would tell me personally, 'Hey, I've got to go sell my constituents catheters,' because he was selling himself and his constituent base is an older base, and he thought that was funny," Mullin said.
Mullin also claimed that the first time he met Gaetz was when, during a speech by then-Congresswoman Kristi Noem before she became the governor of South Dakota, Gaetz told Mullin that Noem was "a fine...b-word."
Gaetz has since denied these allegations and claimed he "hasn't spoken more than 40 words" to Mullin.