Matt Gaetz appears to be in a lot
more trouble than even we realized.
Earlier this week, we learned that
he's facing a serious Department of
Justice investigation for
allegedly paying for the travel of
a minor that he had sex with a 17
year old and if he is found to have
actually done that, he's breaking
federal child sex trafficking laws,
but we're learning more details.
The story just continues to get
worse.
Apparently the Justice Department
has also been looking into whether
Gaetz 38, may have also been
involved in relationships with
other underage girls.
Now, I don't know why the specific
word relationships was used in this
context.
Maybe because there isn't really
certainty yet
about what type of relationship he
had with these underage girls, but
that does not sound good clearly.
The case, by the way, which reached
the highest levels of the justice
department has been going on for
nearly a year and former attorney
William Barr was briefed on
the matter several times.
Investigators have also interviewed
several witnesses in the case and
have been scrutinizing documents
including travel and
financial records.
So again, I want to reiterate that
this was not some investigation
that just started under the Biden
administration.
It actually began under the Trump
administration, with
the Attorney General William Barr
literally being briefed on what
the allegations are.
And the Daily Beast reported some
additional details after speaking
to some GOP staffers, none of whom
wanted to come out publicly.
They didn't reveal their names, but
here's what we know.
Based on what these GOP staffers
are saying one former staffer said
Wednesday that their office had
an informal rule to not allow their
member to appear next to Gaetz
during TV hits fearful of
the inevitable scandal that would
come out one day.
And there's also this,
a hill source sent the Daily Beast
a photo of a trash bin outside
of Gaetz's office.
As lawmakers Cleared out of their
offices at the end of a recent
session at the top of the heap was
an empty Costco sized box of bare
skin Trojan condoms.
Farron.
[LAUGH] >> Seems like members of
Congress and
staffers have been pretty
uncomfortable around Gaetz and
we're just learning about it now.
>> Yeah, you know,
this is always fun.
I've loved to go after Matt Gaetz
all these years.
He is, you know, our congressman
here in Florida's first district.
But what's really interesting about
this story here is how quickly his
bizarre extortion defense has
totally fallen apart.
And we do know now of course yes
there is this DOJ or
FBI I guess investigation into
the potential extortion plot.
But that extortion plot actually
had nothing to do from what we know
at the moment with releasing
materials related to Matt Gaetz.
What it was essentially,
this lawyer from this law firm that
used to be with the US Attorney's
Office, the law firm for
what it's worth is like two blocks
away from where her studio is.
We see it out the window.
So I guess they allegedly
approached Dawn Gaetz and said,
hey, give us 25 million.
Because we want to get our friend
out of Iran, who was a prisoner.
And if you give us the 25 million,
we're going to go and
we're going to lobby Joe Biden to
give your son a pardon for this
investigation because they did know
that there was an investigation.
So that's the extortion.
Yeah, that's what
you're looking at.
And yet, I don't even understand
how anybody can stand by Matt Gaetz
at this point.
When we know what we know so
far and now all of these members of
Congress almost seem or
their aides I guess excited.
About taking him down and
to be honest,
that would be the best thing for
the Republican Party.
Don't come to his defense.
Let him go down in flames because
you know,
no matter what happens to him,
this district right here, you're
going to get another republican.
You know that is not in question.
You're not going to lose the seat.
This is a solidly read district.
I can walk outside right now and
see at least three different Trump
flags still flying, it's safe.
So, let the toxic guy go,
let him continue digging his own
grave and then,
you hold your special election.
You get another Republican and
you move on without the baggage.
I really think that
that is what Republican leadership
is hoping for here.
>> Yeah, it certainly
seems like it.
I mean, we showed video of,
was it Kevin McCarthy or
was it Mark Meadows?
Mark Meadows, right?
McCarthy? Sorry,
I mix them up all the time.
So yeah, it was Kevin McCarthy
being interviewed on Fox news and
He certainly didn't feel the need
to really offer
a robust defense of Matt Gaetz.
The only two members of Congress
who have come out in defense of
Matt Gaetz include two pretty
questionable people themselves.
You have Jim Jordan and
Marjorie Taylor Green who
Is notoriously a que a non believer
and purportedly cares about child
sex trafficking but
not when it might hurt
someone in her political party.
That's when,
maybe worrying about child sex
trafficking is not that important.
But I do also want to add this
because I've been noticing more and
more pundits talking about this on
cable news and saying that you know
he should stop doing these
interviews on Tucker Carlson and
get a lawyer.
It turns out that he actually
did try to get a lawyer and
he was rejected.
Now, we don't know why.
So I want to put that out there.
But we've also learned that,
in at least one instance,
a high profile Washington defense
attorney, and his law firm declined
the opportunity to represent Gaetz
after the congressmen reached out
seeking to hire him for the case.
And one other thing I wanted to
quickly mention in response to
you detailing
the extortion allegations,
both things can be true.
I mean, he could be a victim of
extortion or attempted extortion.
But what field that attempted
extortion is the fact that
he's being investigated for
Child sex trafficking.
You get what I'm saying.
So, yeah, you're right.
I mean his excuse there,
I think he was hoping that he could
deflect and
that's just not going to work here.
And Dawn Gaetz by the way
is Matt Gaetz's Father who was
a Florida State Senator who helped
him basically get away with
driving under the influence.
So Papa has certainly helped
Matt Gaetz with his criminal
issues in the past and it appears
he's helping him out again.