Who is Matt Gaetz? 5 Facts About the Florida Congressman – Hollywood Life

View gallery

Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz was selected by Donald Trump as the new Attorney General. In his November 13, 2024 announcement via Truth Social, the president-elect called Gaetz a “very gifted and tenacious attorney” who was “educated at the William & Mary College of Law.” Trump further claimed that his AG pick “will end the gun-toting government, protect our borders, dismantle criminal organizations, and restore America’s gravely shattered faith and trust in the Department of Justice.”

Gaetz was previously accused of having sexual relations with a 17-year-old girl and paying for her travel expenses. The New York Times first reported in March 2021. The age of sexual consent in Florida is 18. At the time, the Justice Department was investigating whether Gaetz had violated sex trafficking laws.

However, Gaetz strongly denied all allegations in a statement. In which Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Calling it his “weirdest interview ever,” Gaetz claimed at the time that the allegations were part of an ongoing effort to extort him and his family. “In recent weeks, my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official who demanded $25 million while threatening to smear my name… I demand that the DOJ immediately release the tapes, made at their direction and which implicate their former colleague in crimes against me based on false accusations,” he said.

“I have not had a relationship with a 17-year-old,” Gaetz said in his Tucker Carlson tonight interview. “That is completely incorrect. The claim is that I read it in the newspaper New York Timesis that I traveled with a 17 year old in a relationship. That is incorrect, and the documents will show that this is incorrect. Providing flights and hotel rooms for people you are dating who are of legal age is not a crime. People were talking about a minor and that there were photos of me with child prostitutes. That is clearly untrue. There won’t be any photos like that because nothing like that happened.”

Matt Gaetz swears to Tucker Carlson that he didn’t “travel” with a 17-year-old, but his denial seems pretty specific and carefully worded pic.twitter.com/emGePJeVfV

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 31, 2021

He claimed his father was a former president of the Florida Senate Donald Gaetz“even carried a wire at the direction of the FBI to catch these criminals.” The former DOJ official Gaetz mentioned was a lawyer David McGeewho denied any involvement in the investigation or attempts to coerce the family The Washington Post. McGee confirmed that Donald Gaetz had contacted him to discuss a topic that he declined to make public.

Gaetz reportedly gained a reputation when he came to Congress in 2017 for bragging about his sexual exploits, multiple sources said CNN. The sources alleged that Gatz showed photos and videos of naked women he slept with, which he kept on his phone, to other lawmakers (including on the House floor). The sources, who reportedly included two people who were shown the explicit material, told CNN that Gaetz also described having sex with the women.

Gaetz could have been charged under the Mann Actwhich prohibits taking any person across state lines “with the intent that such person engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which a person could be charged with a criminal offense.” The investigation was opened in 2020 under President Trump’s administration. Gaëtz said Axios“The accusations against me are as distressing as they are false. I believe there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to criminalize my sexual behavior, you know, when I was a single man.

However, the DOJ concluded its investigation and did not charge Gaetz with any crimes.

Here’s what else you need to know about Gaetz:

Gaetz was also investigated for allegedly paying women for sex online

The DOJ investigation focuses on Gaetz’s alleged involvement with “multiple women who were recruited for sex online and received cash payments,” The New York Times reported on April 1. Researchers believe that Joel Groenberga former tax collector in Florida who was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges in 2020 met the women in question on websites where women go on dates in exchange for gifts and money, according to sources who spoke to the newspaper. Investigators allege Greenberg introduced the women to Gaetz, who allegedly had sex with them. Gaetz has denied ever paying a woman for sex.

The New York Times claims they checked receipts from Cash App and Apple Pay showing that Gaetz and Greenberg sent money to one of the women, and from Greenberg to another woman. Gaetz and Greenberg allegedly told women to meet them at hotels and other locations in Florida throughout 2019 and 2020. One woman told the newspaper that Gaetz and Greenberg also sometimes paid her in cash.

Gaetz once claimed that the attacks on the Capitol were not all Trump supporters

Gaetz falsely claimed they were Antifa members not all the Trump supporters who lied siege of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. He stated: “Some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters. They posed as Trump supporters and were in fact members of the violent terrorist group Antifa.” rounds of “booing” during a speech in the House of Representatives early the next morning. Gaetz was flagged by Twitter for “glorifying violence” after an outrageous June 1, 2020 tweet amid the national George Floyd police protests, writing: “Now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do in the Middle East?”

Gaetz has represented Florida’s 1st Congressional District since 2016 and has been re-elected twice since then. He is a member of the House Freedom Caucus and serves on the following committees: Committee on Armed Services, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Army, Committee on the Budget, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and Internet, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Trade and Antitrust Law. He has not been removed from any committee since news of his DOJ investigation broke.

He voted ‘no’ on a bill to combat human trafficking

Gaetz was the only representative to vote “no” on the Combating Human Trafficking in Commercial Vehicles Act in 2017. The bill allocates additional government resources to combat human trafficking in the United States. Gaetz said on Facebook Live that he opposed the bill because it represented “mission creep” by the federal government. “Unless there is an overwhelming, compelling reason that our existing agencies in the federal government cannot handle that problem, I will vote no because the voters of Northwest Florida did not send me to Washington to create more federal government,” Gaetz said.

He has been an avid supporter of Donald Trump

Gaetz has alienated colleagues in Congress over his fervent support of Trump. During Trump’s presidency, Gaetz was constantly seen on Fox News and OAN parroting Trump’s rhetoric. When Trump Haiti a “S*thole country” in 2018, Gaetz supported him, tweeting: “Conditions in Haiti are deplorable, they are disgusting. I mean, everywhere in Haiti you see sheet metal and waste.” Gaetz was so loyal to Trump that he even said so he would resign his seat in the House of Representatives to represent Trump in his second impeachment trial if he is asked to join his legal team.

Gaetz was part of the #FreeBritney movement

Britney Spears found a very unlikely ally in Gaetz. The congressman asked the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in March Jerry Nadler (D-NY) organizes a televised investigation into conservatory due process, specifically mentioning the “Toxic” singer in his letter. In his letter, Gaetz raised many points of contention that were highlighted in the documentary Framing Britney Spearsincluding how her father came to gain – and maintain – control over Britney’s life through the conservatorship.

“The facts and circumstances that gave rise to this arrangement remain in dispute, but it involves questionable motives and legal tactics on the part of her father and now-conservator. Jamie Spears” he wrote. Gaetz later tweeted on March 9: “I think @britneyspears would make a great witness on the House Judiciary Committee. She would probably have a lot to say about conservatories. #FreeBritney”