October 20, 2023 11:33 AM UTC

No, Ken Buck Did NOT Sign A Letter Backing Jim Jordan

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• by: Colorado Pols

A little less than an hour ago, Axios’ Juliegrace Brufke broke news of a letter, purportedly from the “Gaetz Eight” Republicans who voted to oust ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, calling for the GOP House Majority to rally around embattled GOP speaker nominee Jim Jordan just minutes after Jordan lost his third round of voting this morning:

The 8 who ousted McCarthy say they are willing to accept “censure, suspension or removal from the conference” to get Jordan the gavel. pic.twitter.com/taAgLFvUXy

— Juliegrace Brufke (@juliegraceb) October 20, 2023

The major “news” in this letter would be that Colorado’s Rep. Ken Buck, who voted to oust McCarthy but since then has steadfastly refused to support Jordan’s bid for speaker, had caved and agreed to back Jordan–despite Jordan’s failure to meet Buck’s litmus test of admitting that the 2020 presidential election was not stolen from Donald Trump. This would not be an entirely unpredictable development after Buck appeared to flip on Steve Scalise’s abortive nomination without any concession on the issue.

But as it turns out, Ken Buck says he did not sign the letter attributed to him, and remains firmly opposed to Jordan:

REP. BUCK tells me : “I have not signed the letter. I’m not going to sign the letter. I am not in favor of electing Jim Jordan speaker.”

He said it was a “misunderstanding” because he “helped draft a letter during the last speaker vote.” https://t.co/1Pj2tpnWuw

— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) October 20, 2023

The letter above lists the names of the eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy, but not their actual signatures–which was our second clue that something wasn’t right. The biggest problem with Buck signing on to a letter endorsing Jordan is of course the massive about-face it would represent for Buck. Buck’s high-profile opposition to Jordan ever since Jordan entered the chat makes it tough to imagine any sort of “misunderstanding” that would mistakenly place his name on this letter calling for the exact opposite of how Buck has been voting.

We can’t rule out that Buck just keeps changing his mind, because that’s what Buck does. But our best theory at this point? Matt Gaetz is one hell of a troll.