Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz said Monday that he wasn’t really sure why anyone would take “doomsday predictions” from Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell seriously.
Gaetz made the comments during a segment of “The Story” with Martha MacCallum as House Democrats prepared for the first public hearings in the push to impeach President Donald Trump.
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MacCallum began the segment with a recent video clip of Swalwell saying that he believed there was evidence of what he called an “extortion scheme.” “We have enough evidence from the depositions that we’ve done to warrant bringing this forward,” he said.
MacCallum went on to point out that the process was just beginning and already Swalwell seemed convinced of the outcome.
“I like Congressman Swalwell a lot,” Gaetz said, referring to the California politician as a “talented guy.” (RELATED: ‘I Have To Fact Check You In Real Time’: Matt Gaetz Scolds MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson)
But then Gaetz continued, “I’m still waiting for Eric Swalwell’s last doomsday predictions regarding this administration to come true. I don’t know how anyone takes him seriously when he talks about the end of the presidency being right around the corner. He said precisely the same thing in the Russian investigation.”
Gaetz then offered his unsolicited advice to Democrats, suggesting that they “bench the Schiff-Swalwell team” going into the public hearings. “Hand us over to people on the more moderate side,” he said. “Have them take a look at it with a little more objectivity, because it’s just hard to believe these folks who gave us these outrageous claims before.”