After reports late Tuesday that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is under a Justice Department investigation for having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said Wednesday that he wants to wait for the facts before there are any repercussions for Gaetz in Congress—a benefit of the doubt McCarthy hasn’t recently extended to Democrats.
McCarthy was asked on Fox News whether Gaetz should be stripped of his committees. As Fox News host Dana Perino pointed out, McCarthy has called for Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) to have his seat on the Intelligence Committee taken away after it emerged that a Chinese government operative had repeated contact with Swalwell and fundraised for him in 2014. Republicans have also suggested that Swalwell may have had a sexual relationship with the spy, which Swalwell denies.
Instead of waiting for the truth to come out, McCarthy has repeatedly pressured House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to remove Swalwell.