Matt Gaetz’s anti-McCarthy drive could upend Biden impeachment inquiry

Rep. Matt Gaetz has offered to give Democrats on the House Oversight Committee subpoena power in the impeachment inquiry into President Biden in exchange for backing an effort to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, The Post has learned. 

The Florida Republican’s backroom proposal would potentially allow Democrats on the GOP-led panel to select which witnesses receive subpoenas in the investigation into the 80-year-old president’s involvement in his family’s overseas business dealings, and allow them to nix the subpoenas from Republican members – which could derail the probe.   

“It would be devastating for the investigation for Oversight Dems to be allowed to choose whom to subpoena or to veto House subpoenas,” a source close to the inquiry told The Post. 

Gaetz has been leading the charge to replace McCarthy (R-Calif.) as speaker over his support for a stopgap measure to fund the government and keep it from shutting down, and for his measured approach to a potential impeachment of Biden. 

A motion to vacate only necessitates one vote to initiate, and with the GOP’s wafer-thin majority in the chamber, only a few Republicans would need to band together with Democrats to oust McCarthy.

Gaetz has unabashedly been courting Democrats for weeks. 

Earlier this month, the Florida lawmaker very publicly asked Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) how much Democratic support a motion to boot McCarthy would get. 

“Hi, Eric. If I make a motion to remove Kevin, how may [sic] democrat votes can I count on? Asking for a friend….” Gaetz said in a Sept. 10 tweet directed at Swalwell. 

On Thursday, Gaetz reportedly approached multiple Democrats on the House floor asking the same question and floating possible McCarthy replacements, according to Politico. 

At least one Democrat told Gaetz Thursday that some in the party wouldn’t stand in his way. 

“He’s been talking to everybody about it,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) told Politico. “I told him in our caucus, in the Progressive Caucus, we’re not planning to save McCarthy — for a whole host of reasons.”

Jayapal added, “We really need to get through the shutdown first.”

Gaetz also approached Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who sits on the House Rules Committee, and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), a whip in the progressive caucus, according to the outlet. 

Gaetz reportedly mentioned Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) as possible successors to McCarthy. 

The final straw for Gaetz would possibly be if McCarthy takes up a bipartisan Senate stopgap resolution, which the upper chamber will vote on Saturday.  

“If [McCarthy] cuts a deal with Democrats to advance Joe Biden’s spending priorities, it shows to the American people who really governs them. I’m doing everything in my power to stop the uniparty, to force them to take votes, and to budget as the law requires. The battle is on,” Gaetz tweeted Thursday. 

Gaetz’s office did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.