Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), the Republican Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, are lashing out at each other after it took House Republicans three weeks to elect a new Speaker. (Smith has called Gaetz a “liar” and Gaetz has called Smith a “loyal lapdog for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy,” among other things.)
Now with Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) sworn in as Speaker, Gaetz claims that Smith is “living a lie every day. And Jason Smith knows exactly what I’m talking about. And by the way, so does almost every member of the House Republican Caucus.”
Gaetz warns: “So, Jason, I would check yourself before you come at me with any accusations of being dishonest.” (Gaetz insinuates but doesn’t come clean about his accusation, instead he lets innuendo do its work.)
.@RepJasonSmith called me a liar.
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 26, 2023
It’s a somewhat predictable projection.
Because he lives a lie every day. pic.twitter.com/EUDhewyrCT
While inner party fighting continues, House Republicans including Smith haven’t stopped accusing Democrats of lying, too.
On Hillary Clinton’s birthday (October 26), Smith resurfaced a 2016 post wishing “the future president” a happy birthday. It features a black-and-white photo of Clinton as a young girl (see below).
Hey @elonmusk can we get @CommunityNotes on this? https://t.co/Pw80xC2qvY
— Rep. Jason Smith (@RepJasonSmith) October 26, 2023
Smith tagged Musk and wrote: “Hey Elon Musk can we get Community Notes on this?”
According to X, the goal of Community Notes is “to create a better informed world by empowering people on X to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading posts. Contributors can leave notes on any post and if enough contributors from different points of view rate that note as helpful, the note will be publicly shown on a post.”
