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Gaetz Considering Leaving Congress For Role At Newsmax: Report


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National Review

Gaetz Considering Leaving Congress for Role at Newsmax: Report

 
 
Brittany Bernstein
Tue, March 30, 2021, 11:33 AM
 
 
d8a3a223b53fc94b07d09121566eca1a

Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) is reportedly considering not running for re-election in 2022 — and possibly even leaving Congress before his term is up — to instead take a job at Newsmax.

The Florida Republican, who religiously appears on cable news, has privately told a number of his allies that he has an interest in becoming a media personality, according to Axios.

A source told the outlet that Gaetz, a Trump ally, has had preliminary conversations with Newsmax about a potential position. The network, along with One America News Network (OANN), gained popularity after the 2020 election, when a number of Republicans disavowed Fox News after it made an early projection that President Biden had won Arizona.

The shift away from political life comes after the 38-year-old congressman reportedly considered entering the race for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama in 2020.

 

However, that effort never came to fruition and in January, Gaetz said he would not challenge Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio in the 2022 Florida primary.

“I have no interest in running against Marco Rubio for the US Senate,” he wrote on Twitter.

“In 2022 the only statewide position I would consider running for in the current political climate is Commissioner of Agriculture. But things can change! (Not the Senate thing though),” Gaetz said then.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gaetz-considering-leaving-congress-role-153335891.html

 

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Matt Gaetz Is Said to Face Justice Dept. Inquiry Over Sex With an Underage Girl

An inquiry into the Florida congressman was opened in the final months of the Trump administration, people briefed on it said.


 

The investigation into Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, was opened in the final months of the Trump administration under Attorney General William P. Barr.    

The investigation into Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, was opened in the final months of the Trump administration under Attorney General William P. Barr.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

March 30, 2021

Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida and a close ally of former President Donald J. Trump, is being investigated by the Justice Department over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him, according to three people briefed on the matter.

Investigators are examining whether Mr. Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, the people said. A variety of federal statutes make it illegal to induce someone under 18 to travel over state lines to engage in sex in exchange for money or something of value. The Justice Department regularly prosecutes such cases, and offenders often receive severe sentences.

It was not clear how Mr. Gaetz met the girl, believed to be 17 at the time of encounters about two years ago that investigators are scrutinizing, according to two of the people.

The investigation was opened in the final months of the Trump administration under Attorney General William P. Barr, the two people said. Given Mr. Gaetz’s national profile, senior Justice Department officials in Washington — including some appointed by Mr. Trump — were notified of the investigation, the people said.

The three people said that the examination of Mr. Gaetz, 38, is part of a broader investigation into a political ally of his, a local official in Florida named Joel Greenberg, who was indicted last summer on an array of charges, including sex trafficking of a child and financially supporting people in exchange for sex, at least one of whom was an underage girl.

Mr. Greenberg, who has since resigned his post as tax collector in Seminole County, north of Orlando, visited the White House with Mr. Gaetz in 2019, according to a photograph that Mr. Greenberg posted on Twitter.

No charges have been brought against Mr. Gaetz, and the extent of his criminal exposure is unclear.

Mr. Gaetz said in an interview that his lawyers had been in touch with the Justice Department and that they were told he was the subject, not the target, of an investigation. “I only know that it has to do with women,” Mr. Gaetz said. “I have a suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward.”

Mr. Gaetz called the investigation part of an elaborate scheme involving “false sex allegations” to extort him and his family for $25 million that began this month. He said he and his father, Don Gaetz, had been cooperating with the F.B.I. and “wearing a wire” after they were approached by people saying they could make the investigation “go away.” Mr. Gaetz claimed the disclosure of the sex trafficking inquiry was intended to thwart an investigation into the extortion plot.

In a second interview later Tuesday, the congressman said he had no plans to resign his House seat and denied that he had romantic relationships with minors. “It is verifiably false that I have traveled with a 17-year-old woman,” he said.

 

Representatives for the Justice Department and the F.B.I. declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Central Florida.

Mr. Greenberg pleaded not guilty last year and was sent to jail this month for violating the terms of his bail. He is scheduled to go on trial in June in Orlando.

A frequent presence on Fox News and other conservative media, Mr. Gaetz has recently mused with confidants about quitting elected politics and taking a full-time job with the conservative television channel Newsmax or another network, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Axios first reported on Tuesday that Mr. Gaetz was considering leaving Congress.

Mr. Greenberg maintained ties to controversial figures who have supported Mr. Trump, an examination of court records, social media posts and far-right websites showed. A website run by a member of the far-right group the Proud Boys and a network of fake social media accounts linked to Mr. Trump’s longtime political adviser Roger J. Stone Jr. have promoted false accusations about Mr. Greenberg’s rivals similar to rumors that prosecutors accused Mr. Greenberg of secretly trying to spread.

It was not clear how Mr. Greenberg knew either Mr. Gaetz or Mr. Stone. He posted a selfie with both in 2017, tweeting, “Great catching up.” The following year, Mr. Gaetz expressed support for Mr. Greenberg’s successful bid for local office, predicting he would someday make a great member of Congress.

On Capitol Hill, Mr. Gaetz has embraced the role of villain to the left as much as he has served as one of Mr. Trump’s staunchest defenders and enablers, often with theatrical flair. He wore a gas mask on the House floor last year in the early days of the pandemic, insisting he was demonstrating concern for public safety amid accusations he was mocking the seriousness of the spread of the coronavirus.

Mr. Gaetz was first elected to Congress in 2016. As a member of the Florida State Legislature and the scion of a Republican political family, he had initially backed former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida in the Republican presidential primary that year before hitching his political fortunes to Mr. Trump.

It paid off. He won a seat in Congress representing part of the Florida Panhandle, and as one of Mr. Trump’s most flamboyant supporters on Capitol Hill and on cable television, his profile skyrocketed.

 

Mr. Gaetz was one of several Republicans who went into secure rooms to briefly disrupt the first impeachment investigation into President Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Gaetz was one of several Republicans who went into secure rooms to briefly disrupt the first impeachment investigation into President Donald J. Trump.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Mr. Gaetz invited a right-wing Holocaust denier to the State of the Union address in 2018, and attended an event last year where he said the Proud Boys had provided security, though he has distanced himself from the group on his podcast. When Democrats moved in 2019 to impeach Mr. Trump for the first time, Mr. Gaetz and a phalanx of Republicans following him barged past Capitol Police into the secure rooms of the House Intelligence Committee to briefly break up the investigation into the president.

After Mr. Trump’s defeat last year, Mr. Gaetz once again rallied to his side, defending the president’s baseless claims of widespread election fraud. Mr. Gaetz helped organize efforts among lawmakers to challenge President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory during Congress’s certification of it on Jan. 6 that was disrupted for hours by a pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol. Mr. Gaetz later traveled to Wyoming to hold a rally against Representative Liz Cheney, a Republican leader who had voted to impeach Mr. Trump for inciting the riot.

In 2017, Mr. Gaetz was the only member of Congress to vote against a law that gave the federal government more power and money to fight human trafficking.

“Voters in Northwest Florida did not send me to Washington to go and create more federal government,” Mr. Gaetz said in a local television interview at the time. “If anything, we should be abolishing a lot of the agencies at the federal level.”

Mr. Gaetz’s personal life has gained attention before. Last summer, he announced that he had a son, Nestor Galban, 19, though Mr. Gaetz said he was not Mr. Galban’s biological father, nor had he adopted him. Mr. Galban had been 12 when they met and had come to the United States from Cuba; Mr. Gaetz was at the time dating Mr. Galban’s sister.

“He is a part of my family story,” Mr. Gaetz told People magazine in June. “My work with Nestor, our family, no element of my public service could compare to the joy that our family has brought me.”

Mr. Gaetz is now engaged to an analyst named Ginger Luckey, 26, whom he proposed to at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on Dec. 30.

It was unclear how investigators in the Greenberg case began examining Mr. Gaetz’s conduct. Last June, federal prosecutors secured an indictment against Mr. Greenberg, accusing him of stalking a political rival.

 

Around that time, federal authorities seized Mr. Greenberg’s phone and laptop, according to court records. They discovered evidence that Mr. Greenberg, whose job responsibilities included issuing licenses, was creating fake identification cards for himself and a teenage girl, and was experimenting with holograms used on permits for concealed firearms, according to court documents.

Two months later, he was indicted on the sex trafficking charge. From May to November 2017, prosecutors said, Mr. Greenberg targeted the girl, who was between 14 and 17, saying he “recruited” and “solicited” her for sex acts in exchange for unspecified perks or favors.

Mr. Greenberg worked in advertising before running successfully at the age of 31 in 2016 for tax collector in Seminole County.

Within days of taking office, he fired three employees who had supported his predecessor and began spending more than $1.5 million in taxpayer money on personal expenses, including guns, ammunition, body armor and a drone, as well as on computers for his own cryptocurrency venture, a county audit later revealed.

The following year, according to The Orlando Sentinel, Mr. Greenberg posted a photograph of himself on social media with Milo Yiannopoulos, a right-wing personality who has a history of making racist remarks. The newspaper also detailed Mr. Greenberg’s own misogynist and anti-Muslim comments on Facebook.

In his bid for re-election, Mr. Greenberg turned in late 2019 to clandestine tactics to undermine a possible rival, according to court papers. Prosecutors said he sent an anonymous letter to the school where one potential candidate worked that made unfounded accusations of sexual misconduct with a student and making similar claims on a fake Facebook account.

As the primary race intensified last summer, similar messaging began appearing on fake social media accounts that have been tied to Mr. Stone.

“Watch out Seminole county,” said someone named April Goad on Facebook, warning Floridians “don’t open your door” to the rival candidate, according to Graphika, a company that specializes in analyzing social media.

The post linked to an article about the rival published on Central Florida Post, a website controlled by Mr. Stone’s associates that had written favorable articles about Mr. Greenberg. The website was founded by a member of the Proud Boys who has been linked to security providers for Mr. Stone on Jan. 6 in Washington in the lead-up to the insurrection at the Capitol.

Mr. Greenberg’s re-election efforts quickly evaporated when he was first indicted last June, and he resigned a day later.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/us/politics/matt-gaetz-sex-trafficking-investigation.html

 

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The Independent

Tucker Carlson says Matt Gaetz interview was ‘one of the weirdest’ he has done

Alex Woodward
Wed, March 31, 2021, 7:36 AM·3 min read
 
 
Tucker Carlson interviewing Matt Gaetz on Fox News (Fox News)
 
Tucker Carlson interviewing Matt Gaetz on Fox News (Fox News)

US Rep Matt Gaetz used an awkward interview with Tucker Carlson to claim that allegations he trafficked a 17-year-old girl are “a lie” and “verifiably false” — and even implied the Fox News host had met a woman involved in the investigation for dinner.

It came after The New York Times reported that the Justice Department is investigating whether Mr Gaetz paid for a girl to travel with him.

He has instead claimed that his family is being targeted by a former Justice Department official in an extortion scheme.

 

Mr Carlson said Tuesday night’s appearance was “one of the weirdest interviews I’ve ever conducted”.

The network requested an appearance from Mr Gaetz following The New York Times story, Carlson said, “on the certainty that there is always more than what you read in the newspaper”.

“I don’t think that clarified much,” he added.

 

At one point during the interview, Mr Gaetz addressed sexual misconduct allegations that once faced Mr Carlson.

“I’m not the only person on screen right now who has been falsely accused of a terrible sex act,” Mr Gaetz said. “You were accused of something that you did not do, so you know what this feels like, the pain it can bring to your family.”

Mr Gaetz also said a woman he had introduced to Mr Carlson was harassed by the FBI.

“You and I went to dinner, about two years ago,” he said. “I brought a friend of mine – you’ll remember her. She was actually threatened by the FBI, told that if she wouldn’t cop to the fact that somehow I was involved in some pay-for-play scheme, she should be in trouble.”

Mr Carlson appeared taken aback and replied: “I don’t remember the woman you are speaking of or the context at all, honestly.”

Mr Gaetz added that he believes people at the Justice Department are trying to “smear” him.

“Providing for flights and hotel rooms for people that you’re dating who are of legal age is not a crime,” he said.

The Justice Department investigation is reportedly part of a larger probe into Joel Greenberg, a Florida official and political ally of Mr Gaetz who was indicted last summer on child sex trafficking charges.

Mr Greenberg faces 14 charges, including allegations of stalking a political opponent, using a state database to create fake IDs, and sex trafficking a minor. He faces a trial in June.

The probe reportedly began in the final months of Donald Trump’s administration under then-US Attorney General William Barr.

The Justice Department has declined to comment.

While Mr Gaetz has denied wrongdoing, he also has insisted that a former Justice Department attorney has sought to “bleed” money from his family by promising to make the case disappear.

Mr Gaetz told Fox News that his father received a text message on 16 March demanding a meeting with “$25 million in exchange for making horrible sex trafficking allegations against me go away”.

He claimed that his family alerted the FBI and Justice Department, who were “so concerned they asked my dad to wear a wire”.

The recordings “will prove my innocence”, he said.

During the interview, Mr Gaetz named the former Justice Department official he alleges has sought to extort his family.

“They were promising that Joe Biden would pardon me – obviously I don’t need a pardon, I’m not seeking a pardon,” he said.

At another point, Mr Gaetz said that “someone” alleged there are photographs of him with “child prostitutes”.

“That’s obviously false – there will be no such pictures because no such thing happened,” Mr Gaetz said.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/tucker-carlson-says-matt-gaetz-022442400.html

 

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The Week

Matt Gaetz blew up FBI extortion case to distract from underage sex report, ex-DOJ official and NYT reporter suggest

 
 
Peter Weber
Wed, March 31, 2021, 12:27 AM
 
 
540faf7f87e1011ce194356470227582

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) did not deny Tuesday night that the Justice Department is investigating him for sex trafficking, related to his alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl two years ago, but he did say in a bizarre Fox News interview that the 17-year-old girl does not exist, that he had no sexual relationships with minors, and, oddly, that there are no "pictures of me with child prostitutes."

Gaetz also elaborated on his allegation that a former Justice Department official was trying to extort him to make the "horrible sex trafficking allegations against me go away," naming the former official as David McGee, now a lawyer in private practice. McGee told The Daily Beast on Tuesday night that any reports of extortion involving him or his law firm are "completely, totally false," adding, "This is a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that Matt Gaetz is apparently about to be indicted for sex trafficking underage girls."

Katie Benner, one of the New York Times reporters who broke the story of the months-old DOJ sex trafficking investigation, told MSNBC Tuesday night that McGee — who she did not identify by name — is not involved in the investigation and suggested Gaetz is trying to deflect attention in a very odd, self-immolating way. "He is basically destroying and blowing up an FBI investigation" into alleged extortion against his family, she noted.

 

Gaetz, 38, got engaged to girlfriend Ginger Luckey in December, but he told Axios earlier Tuesday that "I have definitely, in my single days, provided for women I've dated. You know, I've paid for flights, for hotel rooms. I've been, you know, generous as a partner. I think someone is trying to make that look criminal when it is not." He added that he is "absolutely" confident none of the women were underage.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/matt-gaetz-blew-fbi-extortion-042700202.html

 

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What a joke.....no real facts presented....anonymous sources.....

 

Looks like another hit job by the left......If you back Trump.....we'll destroy you..!

 

Innocent until proven guilty...?

 

And when it all blows over the left will have left the desired stain....

 

Case in point.....Justice Cavenaugh....

CL

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Sounds like someone is talking....Humm, Maxwell, maybe Epstien or even El Chapo spilling the beans on the Leftist Child Trafficker is DC....Destroy anyone that Threatens to Expose Us (The Left)

 

How many times have they used this same scams on Conservatives now?

 

Karsten

 

 

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I saw nor heard nothing strange in that interview WHATSOEVER. A very pi$$ed off Congressman comparing his experience with the interviewer is something to be expected. The Satanic  Democrat party's history is one of false accusation and unsubstantiated allegations by anonymous sources. 

NO ONE IS LISTENING ANYMORE. 

 

Wake up America, the Left is PURE EVIL and must be eradicated by any means. That's what they fully intend for you. 

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National Review

Former DOJ Lawyer Denies Gaetz’s Extortion Accusation

Zachary Evans
Wed, March 31, 2021, 9:40 AM
 
050ed77ea9a52f47dd1cfe3744e5522e

The former Justice Department lawyer accused by Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) of conducting an “extortion” campaign against him denied the allegations in comments to The Daily Beast on Tuesday evening.

Gaetz is the subject of a Justice Department investigation over an alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl about two years ago, the New York Times reported. Investigators are reportedly examining whether Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking statutes, which forbid adults from inducing someone under age 18 to cross state lines for sex.

However, Gaetz claimed that attorney David McGee, a former Florida DOJ official currently at law firm Beggs & Lane, orchestrated the investigation to extort him.

 

“Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name,” Gaetz wrote on Twitter.

The allegations are “completely, totally false,” McGee told the Daily Beast.

“This is a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that Matt Gaetz is apparently about to be indicted for sex trafficking underage girls,” McGee said. National Review has reached out to McGee for further comment.

Gaetz denied that he ever carried on a relationship with an underage girl in comments to Axios.

“I have definitely, in my single days, provided for women I’ve dated. You know, I’ve paid for flights, for hotel rooms. I’ve been, you know, generous as a partner,” Gaetz said. “I think someone is trying to make that look criminal when it is not.”

https://news.yahoo.com/former-doj-lawyer-denies-gaetz-134004355.html

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Business Insider

Bill Barr avoided Matt Gaetz in public while the DOJ was conducting its sex-trafficking investigation, report says

 
 
Bill Bostock
Thu, April 1, 2021, 6:00 AM
 
 
bill barr
 
Then-Attorney General William Barr. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
  • The DOJ is probing whether Rep. Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a minor and paid for her travel.

  • The investigation started last year, when Bill Barr was the Trump-appointed attorney general.

  • Barr avoided being seen near Gaetz in public, and pulled out of an event to avoid him, Politico reported.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr actively avoided Rep. Matt Gaetz in public while the Justice Department was conducting a sex-trafficking investigation into the Florida representative, Politico reported.

On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that the DOJ has been investigating whether Gaetz, 38, broke sex-trafficking laws by having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paying for her travel. Gaetz has since confirmed the existence of investigation.

The inquiry is part of a larger DOJ investigation into Joel Greenberg, a Florida tax collector, the Times reported. Greenberg was charged last year with a number of felony counts, including trafficking a minor between the ages of 14 and 17. Gaetz has not been charged with a crime.

The investigation into Gaetz began last year near the end of President Donald Trump's term, while Barr was serving as US attorney general, the Times reported. Barr and other senior Trump appointees at the DOJ were also aware of the investigation at the time, Politico reported.

 

As this was going on, Barr went to lengths to avoid being seen with Gaetz in public, Politico reported, citing an unnamed person with knowledge of the investigation.

On one occasion, Politico reported, the Justice Department even pulled Barr out of a social meeting with Republican Party members of the House Judiciary Committee when it saw that Gaetz was also attending.

The DOJ declined to comment.

Matt Gaetz
 
Rep. Matt Gaetz speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 26, 2021, in Orlando, Florida. John Raoux/AP

Investigators are examining whether Gaetz paid for the 17-year-old to travel across state lines in 2019, which could be a violation of sex-trafficking laws.

Gaetz denies breaking any laws. "I believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to criminalize my sexual conduct," he told Axios.

"I have definitely, in my single days, provided for women I've dated. You know, I've paid for flights, for hotel rooms. I've been, you know, generous as a partner. I think someone is trying to make that look criminal when it is not."

Gaetz also told investigators on the Greenberg probe that the allegations are connected to a $25 million extortion attempt by the former federal prosecutor David McGee.

McGee, now a lawyer in Florida, denies the allegations and told The Daily Beast that it was "a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that Matt Gaetz is apparently about to indicted for sex trafficking underage girls."

On Tuesday, the same day that news of the allegations against Gaetz broke, Axios reported that Gaetz was considering leaving politics and hoped to secure a spot on Newsmax, a conservative TV network.

Gaetz told The Daily Beast: "I've talked to either executives, producers or hosts at Newsmax, OAN, Fox, Fox Business, Real America's Voice and probably others I'm forgetting."

However, a Fox News spokesperson told the outlet: "We have no interest in hiring him."

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/bill-barr-avoided-matt-gaetz-100040873.html

 

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The Week

The Matt Gaetz case now involves a missing FBI agent last seen in Iran

 
 
Catherine Garcia
Wed, March 31, 2021, 10:09 PM
 
 
410c57d04162a84896485f3e18bd9124

When Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-Fla.) father received a message that referred to a Justice Department investigation into his son and asked for help funding the search for Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who went missing in Iran 14 years ago, he thought the request was suspicious and went to the FBI, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post on Wednesday.

On Tuesday night, The New York Times reported that in the waning months of the Trump administration, the DOJ launched an investigation into whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her to travel with him out of state. Gaetz, who denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crimes, released a statement saying his family had been targeted by extortionists, and his father wore a wire at the insistence of the FBI.

People familiar with the matter told the Post that Gaetz's wealthy father, Don Gaetz, received a text message and document from two men who said if he gave them money to help with the search for Levinson, Matt Gaetz would be seen as a hero and his legal troubles would likely go away. Levinson disappeared from Iran's Kish Island in 2007 while trying to get information on the country's nuclear program, and was last seen alive in a 2010 hostage video. His family has said the U.S. government told them they believe Levinson is dead.

When Don Gaetz received these messages, the DOJ investigation into his son was not known publicly. It isn't clear how the men learned about the investigation, and they do not appear to have any direct connection with the investigation. People with knowledge of the matter told the Post it will be hard to prove this was an extortion attempt because the men did not threaten to expose Gaetz's DOJ investigation if the family did not give them money.

 

Matt Gaetz appeared on Fox News Tuesday night and accused a lawyer named David McGee of being involved in this effort. McGee has represented the Levinson family for years, and on Tuesday night he said Don Gaetz called him and they had a "pleasant conversation" about "the trouble his son was in." McGee denied being involved in any extortion attempt, and his law firm on Wednesday called the allegation "false and defamatory."

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/matt-gaetz-case-now-involves-020959126.html

 

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Business Insider

Matt Gaetz said he's talked to every conservative network about a post-Congress gig, but Fox News denied his claims, saying it had 'no interest in hiring him'

 
 
Cheryl Teh
Thu, April 1, 2021, 12:36 AM
 
 
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 09: Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) during a House Armed Services Subcommittee hearing with members of the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee on Capitol Hill on December 9, 2020 in Washington, DC. The U.S. Army has fired or suspended 14 leaders at Fort Hood following an investigation into the death of Specialist Vanessa Guillén and numerous other deaths and reports of sexual abuse on the military base. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
 
Rep. Matt Gaetz is reportedly under investigation for violating sex-trafficking laws. Samuel Corum/Getty Images
  • Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz says he has been talking to major networks about potential gigs.

  • Gaetz said he had spoken with Newsmax, OANN, and Fox News, among others, about "life after Congress."

  • But Fox News told the Daily Beast they have "no interest in hiring him."

Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz again teased a possible early retirement from Congress on Wednesday, saying he'd been speaking to executives at popular right-wing news networks to suss out possible gigs. But his job hunt hit an early stumbling block when a Fox News spokesperson said the network had no interest in hiring him.

Gaetz told the Daily Beast he had been talking to major right-wing news networks including Newsmax, the One American News Network, and Fox News, over the past weeks.

"Yes. I've had many conversations with many people about life after Congress. These conversations have been very general in nature and have never included me soliciting or receiving an offer of employment," he said.

Gaetz went on to say that there was "not a single conservative television station" that he had not had a "passing conversation with about life after Congress."

 

"I have neither received nor solicited offers from any of them. But yes, I've talked to either executives, producers, or hosts at Newsmax, OAN, Fox, Fox Business, Real America's Voice, and probably others I'm forgetting in this moment as I focus intently on refuting false accusations against me," he said.

But Fox News denied this through a statement to the Daily Beast. A spokesperson said when asked about Gaetz's claims: "No one with any level of authority has had conversations with Matt Gaetz for any of our platforms and we have no interest in hiring him."

The Florida lawmaker is currently facing a complicated political scandal, with an ongoing federal probe into whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her to travel with him, which would be a violation of sex-trafficking laws. He's also the subject of a related investigation into what Gaetz says is an alleged extortion attempt by an ex-Department of Justice official.

It's unclear if Gaetz's pursuance of media jobs is at all related to the investigations, or if it's possibly tied to his Congressional colleagues' vocal dislike of him.

Insider spoke to more than a dozen of Gaetz's colleagues on Tuesday who said he's widely considered a showboat and is among the "meanest people in politics."

One GOP House staffer said: "He's not in the legislative business. He's just out there to blow s--- up and get on TV."

Axios had earlier reported that Gaetz was telling confidants that he was thinking of leaving Congress for a potential gig at Newsmax. The outlet said that sources indicated Gaetz was seriously contemplating the offer, as he had engaged the network in early conversations about what his role could look like.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/matt-gaetz-said-hes-talked-043602258.html

 

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Wow....this Gaetz issue keeps getting more and more bizarre.  :o

 

Fox News

Matt Gaetz case gets more bizarre as extortion claim involves search for missing ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson

Ronn Blitzer
Thu, April 1, 2021, 9:47 AM
 
 

Details surrounding the claim by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., that he is the victim of an extortion plot involving allegations of a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old now portend to connect it to a search for an FBI agent who went missing in Iran 14 years ago.

According to documents obtained and reported by the Washington Examiner, Gaetz's family was approached by former Air Force intelligence officer Bob Kent, who claimed that he had located former agent Robert Levinson, whose family presumed him to be dead. Kent reportedly sought a $25 million loan to fund an operation to rescue Levinson, and promised to help the congressman with legal woes in return.

 

"In exchange for the funds being arranged, and upon the release of Mr. Levinson, the team that delivers Mr. Levinson to the President of The United States shall strongly advocate that President Biden issue a Presidential Pardon, or instruct the Department of Justice to terminate any and all investigations involving Congressman Gaetz," said the document Kent reportedly gave Gaetz's father, which bore the heading "Project Homecoming."

The document stated that Rep. Gaetz was "currently under investigation by the FBI for various public corruption and public integrity issues." It goes on to allege that the FBI has learned of images of Gaetz in a "sexual orgy with underage prostitutes."

 

The document reportedly calls for Gaetz's father to place $25 million in a trust account of law firm Beggs & Land, bearing the name of Levinson family attorney anf former federal prosecutor David McGee.

Gaetz has denied any allegations of wrongdoing and claimed that he was the target of an extortion attempt folllowing a Tuesday New York Times report that said Gaetz is currently the subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation involving a then-17-year-old girl.

 

Gaetz told Fox News' Tucker Carlson that his family had notified the FBI about the alleged extortion, naming McGee as being behind it. Gaetz said his father had worn a wire during a meeting as part of an investigation of the extortion claim, and that he believes the Times story had been leaked in order to thwart that investigation.

McGee told the Daily Beast that the extortion allegations were "completely, totally false," calling it "a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that Matt Gaetz is apparently about to be indicted for sex trafficking underage girls."

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/matt-gaetz-case-gets-more-134707693.html

 

GO RV, then BV

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13 hours ago, coorslite21 said:

Must be those Democrat Hollywood Soap Opera writers working some overtime to create this stuff......

 

Think I've outlined my "turd" philosophies on all of this previously.....😮    CL

Yes, the mental condition of those people so hung up on Hate Everything Trump is being exposed for all the world to see. And it's quite painful to watch. 

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Associated Press

Gaetz sex probe suddenly threatens a speedy Washington rise

ALAN FRAM
Sat, April 3, 2021, 10:01 AM
 
 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Compared with most congressional newbies, it didn't take Rep. Matt Gaetz long. Phone calls from the president. Rides aboard Air Force One. Hundreds of television appearances. A darling in conservative circles.

Yet barely four years after arriving in Washington as a little-known Republican state legislator from Florida’s Panhandle, the 38-year-old unblushing defender of Donald Trump is facing a possible abrupt end to his once promising career because of a federal sex-trafficking investigation.

The overwhelming reaction of Gaetz's GOP colleagues — a deafening silence. That reflects the resentments he's sparked during his breakneck rise as one of the party's celebrities and the challenge he faces to retain his seat.

Government agents are investigating if Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old and other underage girls and violated federal sex trafficking laws, people familiar with the probe have told the AP. No charges have been filed, and Gaetz has denied the allegations.

But with new, damaging details emerging regularly, Gaetz's political arc is beginning to resemble the myth of Icarus, who plunged to earth after ignoring warnings that his waxen wings would melt if he flew too close to the sun.

The coming days will test the crisis management skills of one of the most visible members of Congress' younger generation, who critics say care more about promoting their own brand than serious legislating.

“They're here for notoriety and to perform to their base, and anything else that may come is secondary,” said Doug Heye, a Trump critic and former top GOP congressional aide. “And if you boo him that's great too, as long as you're watching.”

David Bossie, president of Citizens United, which backs conservative causes and candidates, countered that Gaetz "has been a conservative warrior, working every day to make America great again and fight for President Trump’s agenda.”

Gaetz's congressional Twitter account is topped with a photo of himself taking a selfie with Trump, apparently on Air Force One. On his personal Twitter account, Gaetz describes himself as “Florida man. Fiancé. Firebrand. America First." He became engaged at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in December.

Gaetz is quick with a quote and looks little older than a college student. And by his own account, he's hardly led a prudish lifestyle while battling for conservative causes.

In his 2020 autobiographical book, “Firebrand,” Gaetz praised Trump as someone “who doesn’t care for puritanical grandstanding or moralistic preening." He added, "If politicians’ family lives aren’t what really matter to the voters, maybe that’s a good thing. I’m a representative, not a monk.”

Chris Latvala, a former GOP colleague in the Florida legislature, suggests that while there, Gaetz went too far. On Friday, Latvala revived a 2020 tweet in which he accused Gaetz of creating a “game where members of the FL House got 'points' for sleeping with aides, interns, lobbyists, and married legislators.”

Latvala wrote Friday, “ I am just sorry that this guy may have victimized others, including possibly minors before others came forward to verify it.”

The game was also described by two other Florida Republicans, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal what was a private matter. Gaetz has denied knowing about it.

The son of Don Gaetz, a wealthy businessman and one-time Florida state Senate president, Matt Gaetz came to Congress after six years of building his conservative credentials in the state House with pro-gun and other legislation.

Just months after Gaetz arrived in Washington in 2017, when Trump's presidency also began, special counsel Robert Mueller began investigating Russia's influence in Trump's election.

Gaetz sprang into action to defend Trump, filing one resolution asserting investigative wrongdoing aimed at making Mueller resign, and essentially never stopped. His persistence was noted by Trump, who began calling the young lawmaker.

The day before a House hearing on the Russia investigation in 2019, Gaetz tweeted at former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who'd turned on Trump and was about to testify, asking, “Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends?" The House Ethics Committee formally admonished Gaetz for the tweet, which some saw as an attempt at intimidation, and he apologized.

Gaetz was highly visible again months later when the House began its impeachment investigation over Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to provide political dirt on Democrat Joe Biden, who would eventually defeat Trump in the election.

Most notably, Gaetz led a cluster of House Republicans who barged past Capitol Police officers into a secure basement meeting room where House Intelligence Committee members were questioning witnesses. They caused a delay of several hours that had little impact on the probe but garnered press attention.

Gaetz was grabbing the spotlight in other ways, too. He brought a white nationalist who questioned the Holocaust as his guest to Trump's 2018 State of the Union address, later claiming ignorance of the man's views.

In March 2020 as the pandemic was taking hold, Gaetz wore a gas mask on the House floor. Critics accused him of downplaying COVID-19, as Trump repeatedly did, but Gaetz asserted he was calling attention to lawmakers' vulnerability to the disease.

All the while, his visibility was growing. Gaetz has made 346 weekday cable news appearances since August 2017, according to Media Matters, a liberal group that monitors conservative media activity.

That makes Gaetz second in Congress only to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a fellow Trump ally and ubiquitous TV presence.

Through it all, Gaetz has shown no hesitation to criticize fellow Republicans.

In a 2020 tweet, he accused Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., of “screwing all Americans" by dumping stock using insider information as the coronavirus pandemic was starting. The Justice Department investigated Burr but brought no charges.

In Gaetz's book, in a first chapter called “Sex and Money,” he wrote that when he arrived in Congress, he asked current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., for a seat on the Armed Services Committee. Gaetz wrote that “to my shock," McCarthy suggested he contribute $75,000 to the House GOP's campaign committee — a donation Gaetz wrote he actually doubled.

This past January, Gaetz helped spearhead an effort to depose Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., from her post as No. 3 House GOP leader after she was among 10 Republicans to vote for Trump's second impeachment.

Gaetz even traveled to a campaign event in Wyoming, where he urged voters to oppose her 2022 reelection and accused her of ignoring “the will of the people.” Days later, Cheney was reelected to her leadership post.

All of that helped alienate him from many Republicans, several GOP lawmakers and aides said.

Among his only defenders this week has been Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who tweeted, “Take it from me rumors and headlines don’t equal truth." Greene has become a pariah even among some Republicans for showing support for false and violent sentiments.

Having a deep well of support among colleagues can help a beleaguered lawmakers retain their seat should party leaders begin viewing them as a liability. Ominously, McCarthy has called the charges against Gaetz “serious."

Gaetz has reportedly had inconclusive discussions with Newsmax, a small pro-Trump television outlet, about working for it or another network. A person close to Newsmax said Friday the network has no plans to hire him as a talent.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/gaetz-sex-probe-suddenly-threatens-140154242.html

 

GO RV, then BV

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17 minutes ago, Shabibilicious said:
 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Compared with most congressional newbies, it didn't take Rep. Matt Gaetz long

I guess you're so lucky not to be important enough to have someone make false statements about you so the whole world will believe and convict you in the court of public opinion. 

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7 minutes ago, ladyGrace'sDaddy said:

I guess you're so lucky not to be important enough to have someone make false statements about you so the whole world will believe and convict you in the court of public opinion. 

 

Whoa big boy.....this whole forum has loads of that, from Trump to Biden to the other Biden to MTG to Pelosi....take your pick, and we're all guilty of it, including you....You've gone so far as to insinuate everyone who doesn't share your political stylings are clearly "Luciferians".  Besides, this particular thread is simply a collection of ongoing news stories concerning Matt Gaetz, nothing more....The truth will either come to light, or simply fade away, as most things in D.C. do.

 

Am I going to be your chosen argument target today....haven't you had about enough of that lately?

 

GO RV, then BV

Edited by Shabibilicious
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3 minutes ago, Shabibilicious said:

 

Whoa big boy.....this whole forum has loads of that, from Trump to Biden to the other Biden to MTG to Pelosi....take your pick, and we're all guilty of it, including you....You've gone so far as to insinuate everyone who doesn't share your political stylings are clearly "Luciferians".  Besides, this particular thread is simply a collection of ongoing news stories concerning Matt Gaetz, nothing more....The truth will either come to light, or simply fade away, as most things in D.C. do.

 

Am I going to be your chosen argument target today....haven't you had about enough of that lately?

 

GO RV, then BV

 

It still comes down the the MSM promoting speculation as fact......it is definitely a smear.....just like what was done to Cavenaugh.....it's how they operate....In the US we're all supposedly innocent until proven guilty.....not so in the press.....

 

The truth will surface....any retractions will be found on page 12....

CL

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1 minute ago, Shabibilicious said:

 

Whoa big boy.....this whole forum has loads of that, from Trump to Biden to the other Biden to MTG to Pelosi....take your pick, and we're all guilty of it, including you....You've gone so far as to insinuate everyone who doesn't share your political stylings are clearly "Luciferians".  Besides, this particular thread is simply a collection of ongoing news stories concerning Matt Gaetz, nothing more....The truth will either come to light, or simply fade away, as most things in D.C. do.

 

GO RV, then BV

First things First. 

I have NEVER said that anyone who doesn't think along my political beliefs is a Luciferian. I have Stated many times that the leaders of the Democratic Communist party and like minded leaders around the world are Luciferians. This can be documented if you were really wanting to know. 

 

Now I must ask a sincere question. Do you really read what you post? Nothing here is a "News Article". It's all well written opinion pieces with one intention, to give people who wish to shore up their already preconceived beliefs a good feeling. The fact that you don't see this explains a lot about your beliefs. 

 

And Washington hasn't seen the light for more than a 100 years. 

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6 minutes ago, ladyGrace'sDaddy said:

First things First. 

I have NEVER said that anyone who doesn't think along my political beliefs is a Luciferian. I have Stated many times that the leaders of the Democratic Communist party and like minded leaders around the world are Luciferians. This can be documented if you were really wanting to know. 

 

Now I must ask a sincere question. Do you really read what you post? Nothing here is a "News Article". It's all well written opinion pieces with one intention, to give people who wish to shore up their already preconceived beliefs a good feeling. The fact that you don't see this explains a lot about your beliefs. 

 

And Washington hasn't seen the light for more than a 100 years. 

 

Always about the poster with you.  :shakehead:  Just so you know in advance, as new articles concerning Matt Gaetz appear from "news" outlets....I will post them in this thread.  Feel free to pass by this one thread if it bothers you so much....I honestly had no idea you were a huge Gaetz fan.  :peace:

 

GO RV, then BV

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