Kinzinger, Gaetz get in back-and-forth on Twitter over Cheney vote
Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) got into a back-and-forth on Twitter Tuesday evening ahead of the expected vote to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her position in House GOP leadership.
Gaetz resurfaced past comments Kinzinger made touting a failed February vote to remove Cheney from leadership, saying it was a comment that didn’t “age well.”
Kinzinger fired back, saying that Gaetz should “stay away from ‘aging well’ tweets.”
I’d stay away from “aging well” tweets
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) May 12, 2021
Kinzinger’s rebuke alluded to allegations that have dogged Gaetz for weeks.
The Florida Republican has found himself in the middle of a federal sex crimes investigation tied to former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg. He has not been charged with a crime, but he has been accused of paying women — and at least in one case an underage girl — or offering them gifts in exchange for sex.
Gaetz has denied all the allegations against him.
The spat reflected the internal GOP divide over Cheney, whose outspoken criticism of former President Trump led to Wednesday’s vote, where her removal from her role as conference chairwoman is all but guaranteed.
The online back-and-forth between Gaetz and Kinzinger also came the same evening Cheney took to the House floor to deliver a defiant speech blasting Trump and the Republicans who follow him.
A growing number of House Republicans have said Cheney’s repeated rebukes of Trump’s unfounded election fraud claims have distracted Republicans’ messaging against President Biden’s agenda.
Cheney has a small group of allies, including Kinzinger, who say that pointing out that the truth that the November election was not fraudulent should not cost her a spot on House leadership.
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