Lauren Boebert Snaps at Reporter Over Matt Gaetz Question

Republican Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert snapped at CNN reporter Manu Raju in a testy exchange on Saturday about Matt Gaetz (FL-R) outside Congress.

Raju pressed Boebert during an interview on hardline conservative threats to oust Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy should he rely on Democrat votes to avoid a government shutdown.

Speaking to Raju, Boebert said Republicans should have negotiated with Democrats and was critical of an approach that did not scrutinize the funding bill.

Footage of the exchange that originally aired on CNN was uploaded onto X, formerly Twitter, by user @Acyn, where it has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

In the clip, Boebert said: "We should have forced them to come to the negotiating table and come to conference and hash out our differences with these four appropriation bills before there was another payday that was at risk of being missed."

Raju then asked Boebert: "You would vote to oust the Speaker?"

Boebert responded: "That isn't what we're talking about right now."

Raju then said: "Well, Matt Gaetz has said that if he (McCarthy) relies on Democratic votes, he will no longer be Speaker."

Boebert replied: "I'm not Matt Gaetz, my name is Lauren Boebert. I represent Colorado's third district and my focus is getting the federal government funded as we ought to with 12 individual spending bills, like we promised everyone in January.

"Unfortunately, now we're at 45 days of the same bipartisan muscle memory of a straight up and down vote and 'whatever's in it is good with us.'"

Since being shared, the X post has been viewed 246,500 times and liked on 1,685 occasions.

A member of Boebert's office told Newsweek: "Congressman Gaetz is a dear friend of hers and patriot. She wasn't irritated about being in the same conversation as him; she was irritated that instead of discussing the paths to pass the appropriation bills at hand, CNN was focusing on the situation between the speaker and Rep. Gaetz.

"In January, she worked with many great people in the Freedom Caucus to ensure that the House works on 12 individual appropriation bills to fund our government, rather than a packaged, bloated one.

"She is dedicated to passing those 12 separate bills, reducing wasteful government spending, and delivering victories for the great people of Colorado's Third Congressional District.

"The congresswoman isn't focused on House leadership; she is dedicated to being a leader for the more than 700,000 people she represents."

A government shutdown was averted on Saturday afternoon after Republicans and Democrats reached a deal that included a 45-day funding bill, with McCarthy relying on his rivals to get it passed.

After passing in the House of Representatives, the Senate ultimately passed the bill with a vote of 88-9 and sent it on to President Joe Biden who signed it ahead of the midnight deadline.

The process hit stumbling blocks when MAGA Republicans called for large spending cuts and threatened to oust McCarthy from the Speaker role.

Gaetz was among the Republicans who threatened to remove McCarthy from the speakership.

He was joined by fellow MAGA Republican Representatives Boebert, Paul Gosar of Arizona and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, all of whom voted against the bill.

But the MAGA Republicans were slammed by members of their own party who were highly critical of what they viewed as their attempt to thwart a resolution.

Nevada Republican Representative Don Bacon said: "There was an outcry from rank-and-file that want a [continuing resolution]. We're tired of f****** around with these whack jobs. They voted against it yesterday, so let's just put up a clean CR."

Update 10/2/23, 10:38 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Boebert's office.