House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA. ) apologized to congressman Matt Gaetz for saying on a call with GOP leaders that the Florida congressman’s conduct after Jan. 6 “could potentially be illegal.”
Politico reports that the two lawmakers met privately on Wednesday to discuss the leaked audio and Scalise apologized.
“I said: ‘I’m sorry if this caused you problems,’” Scalise told POLITICO. “I still haven’t been able to get all the details of what those accusations were, but I was being told things, and I know members were getting death threats and I was just very sensitive to that.”
The New York Times published audio recordings on Tuesday that featured McCarthy and Scalise airing concerns about comments made by some conservative lawmakers post Jan. 6.
McCarthy said Gaetz was “putting people in jeopardy” and Scalise said that what Gaetz was doing “could potentially be illegal,” referring to Gaetz’s comments attacking Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and other Republicans.
Gaetz issued a scathing rebuke of the top two House GOP leaders on Tuesday night in a statement calling them “weak mean” who are not leaders.
Gaetz met with Scalise’s hours after he confronted him in the meeting on Wednesday demanding an explanation as to why his conduct was seen as “illegal.”
Leaving their meeting, Gaetz declined to comment on the details of their conversation, simply saying: “I want to reflect on it further,” according to Politico .
