Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to file ethics charges against Pelosi for ripping up Trump's SOTU speech
(Photos: Jose Luis Magana - Pool/Getty Images, left, and Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images, right)
House Judiciary Committee member Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said Wednesday he will be filing ethics charges against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., over what he called her "temper tantrum" following President Trump's State of the Union address the previous evening.
Gaetz told Laura Ingraham on "The Ingraham Angle" that he will join two other Republicans and file the charges with the House Ethics Committee on Thursday. Reps. Lee Zeldin of New York and Kay Granger of Texas will join him, he said.
"[Pelosi] disgraced the House of Representatives, she embarrassed our country and she destroyed official records. The law does not allow the Speaker of the House to destroy the records of the House and the rules of the House do not permit some little temper tantrum just because you don't like what the president of the United States says," he said.
Related: Pelosi rips up text of Trump's State of the Union at conclusion of address
Gaetz said that he is one of many Republicans who are tired of political double standards on Capitol Hill. He pointed to Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican who was reprimanded in 2009 for yelling out "You lie!" when then-President Obama claimed illegal immigrants would not be covered by ObamaCare.
"The Democrats really brought the heat down on him," Gaetz said, adding: "By the way, Joe Wilson was right. We ought to apply the same standards to the Democrats that they want to apply to us and there will be an ethics investigation to Nancy Pelosi and we will start the ball rolling to have her censured."
"From the inside out, Nancy Pelosi has been a poison," added Zeldin, who joined Gaetz on the program.
"She is now poisoning the House of Representatives and Congress and our country because they start off with her getting rolled by her far left, which is basically taken over the Democratic Party."
To that effect, Gaetz said the 79-year-old lawmaker has "some real impulse control problems."
Related: Split Senate votes to acquit Trump on abuse of power, obstruction of Congress
The White House also reacted to Pelosi tearing the speech earlier.
The Trump administration had quickly responded to Pelosi's act of tearing up the speech.
"Speaker Pelosi just ripped up: One of our last surviving Tuskegee Airmen. The survival of a child born at 21 weeks. The mourning families of Rocky Jones and Kayla Mueller. A service member's reunion with his family. That's her legacy," the White House tweeted, referencing individuals whom Trump mentioned during his address.
Other lawmakers investigated by the House Ethics Committee include Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and former Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y.