Matt Gaetz lands a spot on Judiciary's new 'weaponization' subcommittee after curious swap by GOP leaders

• Matt Gaetz is now on the Judiciary subcommittee panel he championed during the Speaker vote fight.
• He's replacing Rep. Chip Roy who just landed a spot on the House Budget Committee.

Rep. Matt Gaetz has replaced fellow Speaker vote rebel Rep. Chip Roy on the House Judiciary Committee's new "weaponization" panel, landing a spot in what's likely to be the messiest political arena of the 118th Congress after saying he'd rather fade into the background.

The reassignment puts Gaetz, who spent nearly two years fending off sex trafficking allegations, on the frontlines of a new oversight project designed to eviscerate President Joe Biden, his troubled son Hunter Biden, Biden administration officials, and anyone else House Republicans want to target ahead of the 2024 elections.

While Roy was on the subcommittee's original roster — a snapshot of the Judiciary committee's website still included him as of Tuesday afternoon — CNN spotted the unceremonious removal in a change made to the Congressional Record.

A Gaetz aide declined to answer questions about who was responsible for the swap, saying only in an email that the Florida Republican "is honored to serve on the Weaponization Subcommittee and will be working very hard."

Meanwhile, CNN reported that Roy is being added to the House Budget Committee as part of the internal rejiggering.

A House GOP aide who requested anonymity to speak freely about the rotating assignments told Insider that budget duties were being added to Roy's portfolio, which also includes serving on the House Rules Committee and the main judiciary panel.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy named the original slate of weaponization panelists in late January, tapping two of the 20 members who dragged out his bid to claim the Speaker's gavel — Reps. Roy of Texas and Dan Bishop of North Carolina — to help spearhead the effort.

While Gaetz was also part of that speaker vote rebellion, he initially seemed to emerge with little to show for the procedural showdown.

When asked if he felt weird about all the other rebels seemingly climbing the ladder, Gaetz told Insider he preferred not to be saddled with more responsibility — proclaiming that he was "making back benching great again."

Aides to McCarthy and Jordan didn't immediately respond to requests for comment about the sudden substitution.