Matt Gaetz

Matthew Louis Gaetz II (a.k.a., The Venmo LesterJimmy Kimmel Nicknames Matt Gaetz “Caucasian Diddy” And The “Venmo-lester” Amid Sex Trafficking Accusations by Radhamely De Leon (November 2024) MSN.) is a woke-obsessed, far-right, alleged sex offender (statutory rape, interstate prostitution)Michael Kaplan and Margaret Brennan (November 13, 2024). "House Ethics Committee planned to vote Friday on whether to release report on Matt Gaetz". CBS News.House Ethics report says Matt Gaetz regularly paid for sex, including payment to an underage girl by The former congressman regularly paid for sex, possessed illegal drugs and paid a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017, according to a 42-page report released by the House Ethics Committee on Monday on President-elect Donald Trump’s former pick for attorney general.] by Jacqueline Alemany & Justine McDaniel (December 23, 2024).Statement of the Committee on Ethics Regarding Representative Matt Gaetz (Dec 23, 2024) Committee on Ethics, United States House of Representatives. former congressman who served as a Republican Representative for Florida's 1st district in the Florida panhandle from 2017 to 2024, and is close allies with MTG and Lauren Boebert in the Freedom Caucus. He was also one of the Congressmen most responsible for getting Kevin McCarthy removed from his position as Speaker of the House in 2023.Loud, Celebrity Politicians – Part One: The GOP - SOME MORE NEWS YouTube
==Matt & Donald==
Gaetz is most known for his unapologetic love of Donald Trump, once being called a "proud Trump protege" by Politico.Trump’s Best Buddy in Congress Wants Sessions to Fire Mueller Politico Gaetz is such a big Trump fan he attempted to get the President a Nobel Peace Prize in 2018.Matt Gaetz joins Republican lawmakers in nominating Trump for Nobel Peace Prize Pensacola News Journal 
Gaetz first gained national attention through defending Trump during the investigation by Robert Mueller. Of note was his attempt to get Mueller to recuse himself because of non-existent conflicts of interest in November 2017Republicans just introduced a resolution to remove Mueller from the Trump-Russia investigation Business Insider and his claim that the only reason then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions had failed to fire Mueller was because "he's become sympathetic with his captors over there in the Deep State."Tapper presses lawmaker: Who is the deep state? CNN
When the investigation turned to impeachment, things only got worse for Gaetz. In October 2019, Gaetz put national security at risk through organizing a "storming" of a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility on Capitol Hill along with two dozen of his fellow Republican congressmen, with the goal of hearing a deposition going on in the Pentagon related to the impeachment inquiry.House Republicans’ national security-threatening impeachment stunt, explained by an expert Vox Gaetz would go on to compare this actions to the Spartans from the movie 300.Matt Gaetz Compares Himself to Spartans in Movie ‘300’ After Storming Impeachment Inquiry: ‘I Love the President So Much’ — WATCH Towel Road
Gaetz's never ending support for Trump has even caused him to occasionally clash with members of his own party, such as when he was one of the main voices calling for the removal of Liz Cheney from her high profile role within the House Republican Party because she supported the second Trump impeachment, with Gaetz even going to her home state of Wyoming for no other reason than to rally against her.
==Scandal at Venmo==
===The main story===
Matt Gaetz was investigated by both the US Department of Justice for suspected "sex trafficking", and by the House Ethics Committee for "a range of allegations … including sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, and bribery."
The story originated through Gaetz having connections with Joel Greenberg, a tax collector who was later indicted for sex trafficking.Matt Gaetz Is Said to Face Justice Dept. Inquiry Over Sex With an Underage Girl The New York Times Greenberg later pleaded guilty to sex trafficking,Joel Greenberg sentenced to 11 years after cooperating with federal probe into Matt Gaetz CNN as did an associate to both Greenberg and Gaetz named Joseph Ellicott.Matt Gaetz Associate Pleads Guilty On 2 Charges, Agrees To Cooperation Deal The Huffington Post Greenberg would later claim in a letter to then-President Donald Trump that both he and Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl they both believed was 19 at the time.Bombshell Letter: Gaetz Paid for Sex With Minor, Wingman Says The Daily Beast
===Aftermath===
When accused of his actions, Gaetz cried about how cancel culture was trying to go after him.Embattled Matt Gaetz boasts about being 'canceled man' at first high-profile public appearance since sex-trafficking probe by Joshua Ztiser, May 9, 2021, Business Insider Perhaps disturbingly enough, he attended a debut screening of the fantasy satire film Barbie with his wife Ginger, who later lambasted the film for what they perceive as a "lack of family values", never mind the fact that Gaetz himself lacked the same values they claim to promote and that the theatre he and his wife attended were jam-packed with the very same age group he lusts upon.Congressman Matt Gaetz’s Wife Calls for 'Barbie' Movie Boycott
He also tried to tie this into some weird campaign against earmarks he was doing at the time, saying it was hypocritical for people to investigate him when those exist. This is in spite of the fact that he was one of the biggest earmarkers in Congress at the time. He specifically was attempting to get a one-hundred-forty million dollar Hanger for his district in hopes of making it easier to land helicopters, this in a place with a massive homelessness problem.
==His terrible friends==
One notable thing about Gaetz is how he has a bad habit of buddying around with the absolute worst of society. In 2018, Gaetz invited a notorious alt-right troll and far-right Holocaust denier,GOP lawmaker condemned for inviting Holocaust denier to State of the Union The Guardian to President Trump's State of the Union Address. Johnson previously ran a crowdfunding site that raised money for the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, GOP rep invited alt-right activist to the State of the Union The Hill and was banned for life on Twitter in 2015 after asking for donations to help "take out" civil rights activist "Troll Charles Johnson banned from Twitter" by Dylan Byers, Politico ,2015 May 26
One year later, Gaetz would yet again see controversy through hiring Darren Beattie as a speechwriter, despite him previously being fired from his job in the Trump Administration for attending a white nationalist political conference.Rep. Matt Gaetz hires former White House speechwriter who attended 2016 conference with white nationalists CNN
In 2020, Right Wing Watch wrote an article discussing how Gaetz would commonly use social media to amplify the voices of those on the far-right, saying:
==The end of his Congressional career==
Following Donald Trump winning reelection in November 2024, Gaetz resigned from Congress because Trump said that he would nominate him for Attorney General. His resignation from Congress was despite himself having won reelection to Congress that month. The resignation was seen as a way to prevent the Congressional Ethics Committee from releasing its report on him.Trump's withdrawn attorney general pick will not return to Congress by Mike Wendling (22 November 2024) BBC. That gambit failed in December when the Congressional committee released its report anyway. Gaetz was no longer under consideration for Attorney General or able to go back to his job in Congress. By January 2025, he found a punditry job at the second-rate GOP propaganda channel OANN.By the @OANN Live App to see my first show tonight! @laurenboebert @RepThomasMassie @RepSpartz and much more! 9pm est by Matt Gaetz (8:54 AM · Jan 2, 2025) Twitter (archived from 2 Jan 2025 21:39:25 UTC).
==Stopped clock==
Gaetz has proven himself to be surprisingly reasonable on the issue of cannabis, supporting its reclassification from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III,Matt Gaetz proposes to reschedule marijuana Pensacola News Journal introducing legislation to loosen federal restrictions on the ability of non-government actors to research it,Legislation Introduced To End The Federal Government’s Marijuana Production Monopoly NORML and directly calling out the government for lying to people about the medical benefits of the plant.Trump ally Matt Gaetz makes a push for medical marijuana Tampa Bay Times
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Anti-LGBT bigots
Category:Conspiracy theorists
Category:Fascists
Category:Florida
Category:Former United States Representatives
Category:Homophobes
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Category:Paedophilia
Category:Racists
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Category:Transphobes
Category:Trumpism
Category:Vatniks