Republican lashes out at Matt Gaetz by branding him a 'scumbag' and repeating sex and drug claims

A Republican member of the House of Representatives went off against two of his colleagues on Sunday after a tense weekend in Congress led to the passage of military assistance to Ukraine.

Tony Gonzales of Texas was speaking to CNN when he was asked whether Speaker Mike Johnson would survive a motion to vacate his title being led by several lawmakers on the far right win of his party.

“He will survive,” Mr Gonzales said, before launching into his tirade: “Look, I work with some real scumbags.”

"Matt Gaetz, he paid minors to have sex with him at drug parties," Mr Gonzales said. «Bob Good endorsed my opponent, a known neo-Nazi. These people used to walk around in white hoods at night. Now they're walking around with white hoods in the daytime.»

His reference to Mr Gaetz relates to unproven allegations about the Florida congressman’s behaviour that have run rampant as the House pursues an Ethics Committee investigation into the matter. Mr Gaetz has strenuously and repeatedly denied wrongdoing; the Department of Justice, having looked into the matter, declined to bring charges against him. The agency did charge an associate of Mr Gaetz’s with sex trafficking as a result of the probe — that associate is now spending 11 years behind bars after pleading guilty.

Mr Gonzales is far from the only Republican member to spread these allegations about Mr Gaetz. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy recently did so during a talk at Georgetown University — Mr Gaetz is credited with leading the effort to oust the former speaker last fall.

«I'll give you the truth why I'm not speaker,» Kevin McCarthy said. «It's because one person, a member of Congress… he slept with a 17-year-old.»

The accusation flung at Mr Good’s feet refers to the House