Kevin McCarthy rips Matt Gaetz over ethics probe at surprise press conference

The ousted speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, was back on Capitol Hill on Tuesday where he gave his first press conference since leaving the House of Representatives in December.

And he had one target in mind: Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, the Republican who led a group of rebels to oust Mr McCarthy from his speakership last year with the support of the chamber’s Democrats.

Mr McCarthy answered a question from The Independent about Mr Gaetz’s resolution to defend Donald Trump, the former president and current 2024 GOP frontrunner, from accusations of leading an “insurrection” on January 6. The passage of such a resolution would come as Mr Trump is under criminal indictment for attempting to obstruct congressional proceedings certifying the 2020 election results when a massive mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol.

It would also serve as an attempt to shield Mr Trump from legal challenges aimed at kicking him off the 2024 ballot in states around the country; the 14th Amendment bars those who have supported rebellion or insurrection against the United States from holding federal office.

“Is he trying to deflect from what's happening in [E]thics? I don't know what happened,” said the former speaker, referring to the House Ethics Committee, which is investigating Mr Gaetz. The Department of Justice declined to bring sex-trafficking charges against the congressman after conducting a similar investigation.

Mr McCarthy was then pressed about the Ethics investigation itself, and answered that he didn’t know much about the investigation — but claimed that Mr Gaetz had been “very concerned” about it while Mr McCarthy was still speaker, and had asked the speaker “to do something about it”.

But he wouldn’t, Mr McCarthy,