Pelosi says Tapper ‘wasting time’ with Gaetz; doesn’t say how she’ll vote on McCarthy

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blasted Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in a Sunday interview, arguing the latter was a self-promoter and that the media was wasting time giving him attention. 

She also said Gaetz had no real following or support in the House.

“You’re wasting your time on that guy because he has no sway in the House of Representatives, except to get on TV and raise money on the internet,” Pelosi, the longtime Speaker who stepped down from that role in this Congress, said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper.

Gaetz earlier on the show said he would file a motion this week to vacate the chair — a procedural tool to essentially end McCarthy’s Speakership.

The motion sets up a decision for Democrats, who could save McCarthy by voting for him, or possibly by voting present. The motion is likely to succeed if Democrats vote against McCarthy, since Republicans have such a slim majority in the House.

Pelosi did not say how she plans on voting, but she said Democrats should take their cue from House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

“My advice to my fellow Democrats is simple: Follow the leader,” she said.

She praised Jeffries for his handling of the anticipated government shutdown and for ultimately reaching a continuing resolution (CR) that prevented the shutdown from taking place.

“It was a victory for Democrats, a defeat for the MAGAs,” Pelosi said of the CR, referring to hard-right Republicans.

Pelosi went on to rip Republicans for what she described as hypocrisy, saying most of them backed a huge tax cut she said benefitted the wealthy but then voted against a measure to keep the government funded under the argument of fiscal conservatism.

Pelosi added a shot at former President Trump, who she described as “what’s his name.”

“It’s such a fraud when they [say] the basis of this is spending,” Pelosi said, adding, “these are people who gave a tax cut to the richest people in American to the tune of $2.5 trillion to our national debt when what’s his name was president of the United Sates. Two trillion dollars to the national debt.”