Outspoken Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz reached out an olive branch to Republican Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) in the wake of a very intense confrontation this past Friday while on the House floor which ended up forcing Rogers to be physically restrained by his colleagues.
After having been one of the final GOP holdouts attempting to block Kevin McCarthy from taking up the speaker’s gavel for the House, Gaetz ended up making rogers angry after he chose to vote “present” in the 14th round of voting in an effort to once again deny McCarthy the role. Rogers needed to be restrained by North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson in what ended up being an overly dramatic confrontation that was quickly followed up by another vote in which McCarthy ascended to the role of Speaker of the House.
“@RepMikeRogersAL and I have a six-year productive, working relationship,” stated Gaetz in a social media post. “We’re going to work together wonderfully going forward. I don’t think there should be any punishment or reprisal just because he had an animated moment. He has my forgiveness.”
.@RepMattGaetz and I have a long and productive working relationship, that I am sure will continue. I regret that I briefly lost my temper on the House Floor Friday evening and appreciate Matt’s kind understanding. https://t.co/8GmbJHO3cK
— Mike Rogers (@RepMikeRogersAL) January 8, 2023
The response from Gaetz was also accompanied by a video link to his interview on “Fox News Live” in which he expressed similar sentiments.
“Mike Rogers is going to be a terrific chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and we share a deep commitment to our national defense, to our men and women in uniform,” he stated. “Of course, in a late-night moment of high drama, people can have moments of frustration.”
Rogers quickly issued his own reply to the publicly made apology offer by Gaetz about his actions.
“@RepMattGaetz and I have a long and productive working relationship, that I am sure will continue. I regret that I briefly lost my temper on the House Floor Friday evening and appreciate Matt’s kind understanding,” he stated on social media.
Gaetz was a single member of the 20 Republicans who first refused to vote for McCarthy in his efforts to take up the mantle of House speaker. Eventually, the holdouts gave up, with their members either voting for McCarthy or choosing to vote “present” to drop the required 218 vote threshold, after winning a series of pledges from McCarthy.
Most extraordinary CSpan floor video I have ever seen https://t.co/sFTPF8WCdJ
— Erik Wasson (@elwasson) January 7, 2023
As part of an interview held with New York Post, Gaetz stated that a few of McCarthy’s concessions to the GOP holdouts might end up being noticed soon.
“I feel like the American people won. I feel that the House of Representatives will be a healthier institution,” explained Gaetz to the Post. “Many of these things had been resisted by Kevin McCarthy as early as Monday and now we have an exquisite rules package.”