Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene weighed in on a heated confrontation between two of her colleagues Friday night during the 14th round of voting for the House speakership.
“Mike Rogers lost his temper and was basically going to, you know, put his hands on Matt,” Greene said. “And it was actually Richard Hudson — grabbed Mike Rogers from behind and pulled him away,” Green told Fox News.
“So yeah, that was completely out of line. And then I’m sure it’ll be dealt with,” she added.
Republican Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers and Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz had a heated exchange when the latter voted “present,” on the fourteenth vote, once again forestalling Kevin McCarthy’s bid for House speaker. When it became clear that McCarthy would not secure the necessary number of votes in that round, Rogers angrily lunged towards Gaetz and had to be restrained by incoming National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Richard Hudson of North Carolina.
Mike Rogers (R-AL) lunges at Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and has to be restrained as a heated discussion occurs between McCarthy and Gaetz. pic.twitter.com/Py5u0Ldcco
— 🇺🇸 Cole Sierpinski 🌞 (@ColeSierpinski) January 7, 2023
“That was a very tense moment and I was just trying to play a role to keep the tensions down,” Hudson told NBC news as he left the House floor.
Republican Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett, who was seated between Rogers and Gaetz when the incident occurred, agreed with Greene that Rogers had crossed a line. “It’s just an unfortunate moment is all it was. It shouldn’t have happened. He shouldn’t have crossed that line,” he said according to the outlet.
McCarthy did secure the speakership on the 15th vote at which point he thanked both Gaetz and former President Donald Trump for helping him secure the win, The Hill reported. McCarthy credited the two for encouraging each of the six remaining Republican holdouts to vote “present” on the 15th ballot which lowered the number of votes McCarthy needed to win. (RELATED: Kevin McCarthy Becomes Speaker Of The House On 15th Ballot)
“I hope one thing is clear after this week: I will never give up. I will never give up for you, the American people. And I will never give up on keeping our Commitment to America,” McCarthy stated per Fox News.