Kevin McCarthy Absolutely Buries His Longtime Foe Matt Gaetz: He ‘Won’t Get Confirmed’ and ‘Everybody Knows That’

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) dismissed the idea of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) being confirmed by the Senate as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general.

On Wednesday, Trump shocked Capitol Hill when he announced the nomination of Gaetz to lead the Department of Justice. Soon after the news broke, Gaetz resigned from Congress thereby ending an investigation into him — the findings of which were just days away from being released by the House Ethics Committee.

Gaetz and McCarthy have had a tense relationship for more than a year — going back to the Florida lawmaker leading the push to oust McCarthy from the speakership last year.

Following the announcement, McCarthy joined Bloomberg Television for an interview where he told anchor Haslinda Amin that “everybody knows” Gaetz will not make through the Senate confirmation process.

AMIN: You know, we’ve had names like Rubio, Waltz, Gaetz, even. I mean, how would you make — what do you make of the choices so far?

GAETZ: I think choices are very good, except one. Look, Gaetz won’t get confirmed. Everybody knows that. But when you look at a Rubio, just the knowledge that he has being in the Intel committee, I was on the gang of eight and his understanding, even when you listen to the other side of the aisle, they say he’ll make a great secretary of state. So that’s strong from a Waltz’s just his background, from a Green Beret. But John Ratcliffe at CIA, former DNI, that’s very strong. And the difference is to what was eight years ago today: President Trump understands the job. He knows the people that he needs around him to get there. And I think he’s got to be much better prepared because he only has one term. But he’ll he’ll hit the ground running this time.

Watch the clip above via Bloomberg Television.