Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) delivered a blunt assessment of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) after the far-right congressman revealed his plot to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his leadership role.
Gaetz told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday that he plans to seek to remove McCarthy from the position after McCarthy worked with Democrats to narrowly avoid a shutdown of the federal government over the weekend.
Gaetz led the right-wing group of House Republicans who opposed McCarthy’s bid for the speakership in the first place. McCarthy required 15 rounds of voting to finally land the gig.
Pelosi, talking to Tapper after his conversation with Gaetz, told the CNN anchor that he was “wasting your time on that guy.”
Gaetz “has no sway” in the House “except to get on TV and to raise money on the internet,” Pelosi continued.
McCarthy, asked by CBS’s Margaret Brennan about Gaetz’s mission to depose him, responded on Sunday: “I’ll survive.”
Watch the Pelosi interview here: