Trump Denies Encouraging Gaetz To Oust McCarthy After Lawmaker Declared Conversations With Ex-President Gave Him ‘Great Confidence’

Former President Donald Trump denied pushing Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to lead the charge in ousting Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., from his House speaker role.

During a brief statement to reporters during the second day of his New York fraud trial, the former president was asked if he encouraged Gaetz to file the motion to vacate against McCarthy.

"No, I did not," he said before quickly turning his focus to the trial, calling it a "total witch hunt."

The comment follows Gaetz's saying on Monday that conversations with Trump had him feeling "great confidence" in his effort to oust McCarthy.

"My conversations with the former president leave me with great confidence that I did the right thing," Gaetz told reporters after he and seven other Republicans joined Democrats to vote McCarthy out of his leadership role.

Gaetz, however, did not say where Trump fell on removing McCarthy.

"I think I'm going to keep that between the two of us," he said, as The Messenger's Stephen Neukam and Warren Rojas reported on Monday.

McCarthy said he will not run again, leaving the House in a scramble to find a new permanent speaker.

Gaetz's charge to remove McCarthy has angered a number in his own party, some of whom are calling for him and others to face consequences like losing committee positions over it.

Trump did criticize Republicans ahead of the vote for "in fighting."

"Why is it that Republicans are always fighting among themselves, why aren’t they fighting the Radical Left Democrats who are destroying our Country?" he wrote on Truth Social.