Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz clashed with MSNBC anchor Hallie Jackson over the Democrats handling of the impeachment proceeding on Thursday morning.
Gaetz, who led a group of GOP lawmakers in disrupting impeachment-related testimony a day before, has been critical of the Democrats’ refusal to release new information.
“I should be allowed in that room as a member of the Judiciary Committee, as a member of the Armed Services Committee, and they wouldn’t let us in,” Gaetz began. “It begs the question, what are they hiding?”
“You’re speaking for yourself, so let’s talk about that. You are a member of Judiciary and a member of Armed Services. As you know, none of those committees are the ones conducting these depositions. It’s Intel —” Jackson responded before getting cut off by the congressman.
[Also read: Matt Gaetz defends Katie Hill amid ethics investigation: ‘This is just absurd’]
They then proceeded to talk over one another, with Gaetz arguing that the Judiciary Committee is “involved” in the inquiry because they “launched the investigation.” Jackson pushed back, pointing out that his committees have not issued any subpoenas.
“No. You’re shifting ground now. Right. First, you say we’re not involved and then you say we didn’t issue the subpoenas. Those are two different things. We are involved because our chairman launched the inquiry. That is a fact,” the Florida representative responded.
“I want to let you have your say here, but I also want to find out why you think the rules do not apply to you as they’re laid out to you, Congressman Gaetz. Why don’t they apply to you?” the host retaliated.
“The rules — oh, I do think the rules apply to all of us. But the rules would typically require the speaker of the House — I shouldn’t say the rules, the precedent that was applied to President Clinton and President Nixon would necessitate some articulation of the rules so that we have an understanding of what the due process requirements will be,” Gaetz answered.
