[Edward64]

Nice exchange. I wish there was a YT video.

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At one point, while speaking at the mics during the gathering, McCarthy mentioned Gaetz by name, according to a source in the room. Gaetz stood up to “kind of interrupt him and say something,” per a second source in the room.

McCarthy then shot back, according to the second source.

“Sit your ass down,” McCarthy said, according to the source, prompting Gaetz to “say something back.”

The second source said Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) “was ready to lunge across the room.”

McCarthy said he did not yell at Gaetz.

“I was at the mic, I was speaking and Matt Gaetz tried to interrupt,” McCarthy said. “I told him to sit down.”

“I think the entire conference screamed at him,” McCarthy added. “Listen, the whole country, I think, would scream at Matt Gaetz right now. Remember, it was the crazy eight led by Matt Gaetz and every single Democrat that put us into this situation.”

Gaetz, for his part, said he thought McCarthy “was yielding to me since he had mentioned me.”