It looks like there’s a leak in the House of Representatives bathroom.
Reporter Matt Laslo on Tuesday found a document for a motion to vacate the speaker of the House. The resolution appears to come from Representative Matt Gaetz’s office and was found on a baby changing table. Gaetz has not confirmed whether or not the document is legitimate. The New Republic contacted his office for comment, but had not heard back at time of publication.
The fact that the paper was found in the bathroom is oddly reminiscent of Donald Trump, who stored classified documents in the bathroom at his Mar-a-Lago resort. Gaetz is a vocal Trump ally.
If the resolution is legitimate, then it could signal the start of a messy and protracted fight in the House—and the Republican Party—that could end in a government shutdown.
The House returned from recess last week, and one of the first orders of business is passing an appropriations bill. Some of the farthest-right representatives, including Gaetz, are threatening to block the bill and risk shutting down the government unless their demands to drastically cut spending are met.
Gaetz has repeatedly threatened to introduce a motion to vacate, even begging Democrats to side with him. McCarthy reportedly finally snapped at Gaetz last week, telling him in a closed-door party meeting to put up or shut up.
“If you think you scare me because you want to file a motion to vacate, move the fucking motion,” McCarthy said, according to Politico reporter Olivia Beavers.
The motion would strip McCarthy of the speaker’s role and force a vote for his replacement. Considering it took 15 rounds of voting before McCarthy won the gavel in January, choosing his replacement would be no easy feat.
Gaetz was one of the last holdouts during the interminable rounds of votes for House speaker in January. Gaetz finally switched his vote to “present,” handing the gavel to McCarthy, but he has remained staunchly anti-McCarthy ever since.