House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is in the middle of yet another intraparty conflict within the House GOP after showing support for one of his vulnerable incumbents on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Johnson was in San Antonio this week for a campaign fundraiser held by Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, who is facing a primary challenger backed by members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus and their allies.<\/p>\n
It came days after Gonzales infuriated the GOP rebel group when he called two of his colleagues, House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good, R-Va., and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., \u2018scumbags\u2019 and compared them to Klansmen in a stunning CNN interview over the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s my absolute honor to be in Congress, but I serve with some real scumbags like Matt Gaetz. He paid minors to have sex with him at drug parties. Bob Good endorsed my opponent, a known neo-Nazi,\u2019 Gonzales said. \u2018These people used to walk around with white hoods at night. Now they\u2019re walking around with white hoods in the daytime.\u2019<\/p>\n
The allegations against Gaetz, which he denies, were the subject of a federal probe that prosecutors ultimately decided not to move forward with.<\/p>\n
Gaetz and Good\u2019s allies seized on the comments and, soon after, on Johnson\u2019s plan to appear with Gonzales.<\/p>\n
It is part of the continued fallout from the House passing Johnson\u2019s $95 billion foreign aid plan for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific. Johnson\u2019s plan got wide bipartisan support but angered a rebellious faction of House GOP lawmakers who feel increasingly sidelined by Johnson as he navigates critical legislation with a historically slim majority.<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s campaign events are typically planned well in advance, but the backlash to this recent stop shows the historic division that\u2019s plagued the House GOP for much of this Congress.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m just beside myself that that\u2019s where things are. And I don\u2019t mind saying it, but I\u2019m going to be very clear. I\u2019m being attacked. Conservatives are being attacked. Bob Good, the chairman of the Freedom Caucus is being attacked by Tony. He said that he\u2019s a Klansman,\u2019 Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said on local radio station KTSA.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gonzales\u2019 opponent, pro-Second Amendment social media personality Brandon Herrera, responded to Gonzales\u2019 comments on X on Sunday shortly after the congressman\u2019s interview. \u2018He has to cry to his liberal friends about me, because Republicans won\u2019t listen anymore,\u2019 Herrera wrote.<\/p>\n
Gaetz accused Gonzales of \u2018laundering lies on CNN\u2019 and pointed out that Gonzales was censured last year by the Texas GOP for his support of gun control measures in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting, which occurred in Gonzales\u2019 district, where 19 elementary school students and two teachers were murdered by an 18-year-old with an AR-15.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday morning, Gaetz mocked Johnson and Gonzales with a photo from the event and accused them of having \u2018briefed donors in Texas about their hard work to secure the border\u2026\u2026of Ukraine.\u2019<\/p>\n
A source familiar with Johnson\u2019s campaign plans told Fox News Digital that the event with Gonzales was a longstanding stop that was part of a wider campaign season swing through Texas.<\/p>\n
Gonzales wrote on X of the fundraiser, \u2018Proud to host an incredible crowd for our Fiesta luncheon! Thank you to Speaker Johnson for attending and being a champion for the issues that impact.\u2019<\/p>\n
Fox News Digital reached out to Gonzales\u2019 campaign for comment on the GOP rebel-led backlash but did not immediately hear back. Fox News Digital reached out to Good\u2019s campaign as well.<\/p>\n
When reached for further comment by Fox News Digital, Gaetz listed off what conservatives say are Johnson\u2019s legislative shortfalls, including the bipartisan government funding deal, renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and his support of Gonzales.<\/p>\n
\u2018Speaker Johnson has undergone a metamorphosis that would make the monarch butterfly blush,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n\n
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is in the middle of yet another intraparty conflict within the House GOP after showing support for one of his vulnerable incumbents on Tuesday. Johnson was in San Antonio this week for a campaign fundraiser held by Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, who is facing a primary challenger backed by members <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":18360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}