On Thursday night, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) threatened to resign from Congress if the Republican party negotiates with Democrats to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House.

Throughout the voting process to determine the next Speaker of the House, Gaetz has been very vocal with his disapproval of McCarthy.

On Tuesday, Gaetz nominated Jim Jordan for speaker, insisting that he is the hardest-working, most talented option for the position. The Florida Rep. added that Jordan has more vision than McCarthy, who has “sold shares of himself for more than a decade.”

“Maybe Jim Jordan is the right person for Speaker of the House because he is not beholden to the lobbyists and special interests who have corrupted this place and corrupted this nation under the leadership of both Republicans and Democrats,” said Gaetz.

On Tuesday, Gaetz also sent a letter to the 12th Architect of the Capitol asking for McCarthy, whom he referred to as a ‘squatter,’ to be removed from the speaker’s office until House members choose the next speaker.

He wrote, “What is the bases in law, house, rule, or president to allow someone who has placed second in three successive speaker elections to occupy the speaker of the house office? How long will he remain there before he is considered a squatter?”

On Wednesday, Gaetz spoke to the press about his opposition to McCarthy, saying, “If you want to drain The Swamp, you cannot put the biggest alligator in charge of the exercise!”

After 11 failed votes for speaker, Gaetz appeared on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle where host Laura Ingraham asked Gaetz if he would be okay with Republicans handing Democrats co-control of the committees, to which he firmly responded, “No.”

“Will you be okay then if there’s ultimately a deal struck with moderate Democrats that give Democrats kind of co-control of the committees, you’re fine with that?” asked Ingraham.

Gaetz quickly responded, “No, absolutely not. That will not happen.”

“That could happen,” replied Ingraham.

“No, listen. I’m on the floor, Laura, and these 212 Democrats are going to vote for Hakeem Jeffries every single time,” said Gaetz. “He is a historic candidate for them. They are not going to cleave off under any circumstance, I assure you that.”

“If Democrats join up to elect a moderate Republican, I will resign from the House of Representatives,” he continued. “That is how certain I am. I can assure your viewers that won’t happen.”

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