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.
That certainly puts these rumors this morning in a new light:
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has privately told confidants he’s seriously considering not seeking re-election and possibly leaving Congress early for a job at Newsmax, three sources with direct knowledge of the talks tell Axios.
Hrmm. Maybe Gym Jordan can help him out.
A Full Moon, Two Tug Boats, A Huge Lever, Science and Math, and Some Luck
rk
Bet there are a lot more girls who will come forward. I’d be shocked if it’s only one girl.
The Moar You Know
So…the mystery of why Gaetz was babbling last night about leaving Congress for Newsmax is becoming a lot clearer.
That shit’s probably legal in Florida though. Hell, he’ll probably end up a senator.
Baud
Ooooh, as a member of the “media,” Gaetz’s arrest, prosection, and imprisonment can be spun as the Biden DOJ trying to silence the press.
The usual suspects are salivating.
geg6
LOLOLOLOLOLOL! I always had him pegged as a creeper.
ETA: Hopefully, Nunes is next one in the barrel.
The Moar You Know
Living Trump’s dream, Matt is.
debbie
Ick.
Jeffro
@The Moar You Know:
No, no…you’re thinking of Alabama…
germy
laura
For all the carrying on about child sex trafficking, you’d think that the GQP would refrain from their baser instincts….oh who am I kidding. Every accusation is a confession. Sex pestery all the way down.
The Dangerman
Send out a team of men (and women) to arrest his ass. Grabbed by a possee seems appropriate for a Trumper.
Jeffro
Ol’ Mattie’s going to be surprised when he finds out that even Newsmax doesn’t want a pedo commentator. I mean, GQP voters might be fine with it…wait, those are perfectly overlapping circles…never mind.
Countdown to “FAKE NEWS!” in 3, 2, 1…
Princess
QAnon is all projection. Every bit of it. Attack them for what you are guilty of.
I guess it’s Schadenfreude for dinner tonight, again.
Viva BrisVegas
Looks like Q was right, except about which party.
Given that, it’s probably time to start looking for dungeons under buildings used by Republicans.
debbie
@geg6:
Yeah, where is all that money coming from??? 🤔
mrmoshpotato
What’s the over/under on when we find out he’s a statutory rapist?
Was he running a child sex ring out of a pizza parlor’s basement?
(It would be irresponsible not to speculate.)
JPL
Twitter said that Major nipped another person today, so Tucker and crew have a new talking point.
Ruviana
What about Nestor?
Baud
@JPL:
Poor baby. Too much stress for him.
TheronWare
May he go down in flames.
Cheryl Rofer
JoyceH
@laura:
I’ve been saying that since the Clinton administration. Which is why I’ve been a bit… concerned at this sudden onrush of wild claims about Democratic satanic pedophiles.
Jeffro
@JPL: Major, major…bud, just hang out in the First State and enjoy a nice carefree, Beltway-free life.
Before you go, though, here are pictures of five trumpublicans we’d like you to “nip” at the next WH state dinner…
debbie
MisterForkbeard
Remember, Gaetz is the one who secretly “adopted” a teenage boy, too. By which we mean secretly had him living in his home and didn’t tell anyone or legally adopt him, AFAICT. So I guess we know how he “met” the 17 year old girl.
JPL
@Cheryl Rofer: What does that even mean?
Baud
@Cheryl Rofer:
He demands that DOJ release the tapes, but he doesn’t name names. Hmmm.
The Moar You Know
It just wouldn’t be my first instinct if I’d been banging an underage girl to run for national office – and not only that, but to make a point of being an outrageous publicity hound once elected.
But hey, I’m always willing to consider the possibility that I might be the stupid one and am missing something here.
Jeffro
@Cheryl Rofer: oh sure, I’ll believe him, absolutely… (eyeroll emoji, obvs)
MisterForkbeard
@Cheryl Rofer: Sure. This seems believable.
dmsilev
I’m not sure that’s the approach to take when under investigation for interstate sex trafficking. Or maybe it is; I’m proud to say I have no first-hand experience on the question.
Also,
Rocks
It doesn’t count unless it was in the basement of a pizza parlor.
mrmoshpotato
@Princess:
Have it for a side tonight. 😁
germy
@Cheryl Rofer:
So it’s a frame up.
Cheryl Rofer
The fact that Gaetz already has put forth two stories in his defense suggests something like panic.
debbie
@JPL:
Bastard’s continuing TFG’s work: sliming the DOJ. 😡
Jeffro
.
The Moar You Know
@Cheryl Rofer: oh man. The boy is going down in flames. Has he been calling Giuliani?
Story A: I’m just a really generous lover-man.
Story B: I’m being blackmailed for 25 million bucks.
Rule #1: Pick one and stick to it. Even Rudy knows that, so I guess he didn’t call him.
Suzanne
I wish I knew a QAnon person so I could point and laugh at them right now.
Every accusation is a confession!
Jeffro
@Cheryl Rofer: I’m glad that this investigation started under Barr…it will make it that much harder for Gaetz and Gaetz-allied wingnutz to claim that this was started under the reign of Merrick the Merciless.
Ken
You probably also don’t go around bragging that you’re certain none of your girlfriends were minors.
Also:
So plenty of credit card records. And from the flight records, names of the young ladies, all of whom presented ID to board.
Delk
Was he using Nestor as a honeypot?
zhena gogolia
@laura:
inorite
Baud
@Ken:
Or keep it all intrastate.
germy
mrmoshpotato
@Cheryl Rofer: “while threatening to smear my good name” would’ve made it a laugh riot.
Suzanne
@dmsilev:
I also have never been investigated for interstate sex trafficking, but I strongly suspect that you are right.
karen marie
Did you all hear me SCREAM when I read the first paragraph of this post?
Yeah, you knew it had to be something bad. When Gaetz announced his engagement, I figured something hinky was going on.
Baud
@germy:
By that standard, there would be no Republicans left on the committee.
germy
Butter Emails
@JoyceH:
I too have been concerned about this. Now I’m thinking about the accusations that Democrats are actual demons and aliens. Makes one think.
artem1s
has someone told Matt it’s not that kind of job at NewsMax?
Obligatory
CaseyL
I’d like to know why Barr’s DoJ opened the case at all – banging underage girls can’t possibly be considered a crime in GQP circles (we should be glad they weren’t pubescent), and Gaetz was already as loyal as you can be to the Right, so it wasn’t about leverage. So why did Barr bother?
Steve in the ATL
@Cheryl Rofer: riiiiiiiiiight….
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
“Matt Gaetz is being brought down because liberal Democrats and their media enablers want to wreck the reputation of everyone who challenges their control of the corporate narrative.”
– Glenn Greenwald, probably
Dorothy A. Winsor
Not having to look at this guy on a regular basis would make things better
germy
dmsilev
@Ken: They’re all from Canada; you wouldn’t know them.
Hungry Joe
I sometimes try to play a mind-game trick on myself: Pretend that hated figures like McConnell, Gaetz, Cruz, Boebert, even Trump, are solid, honest, good-hearted progressive folk. I mean, there’s no reason why people with faces like that couldn’t be. But my brain can’t make the switch; the aura of evil is now hard-wired in.
While it’s impossible to escape that category, one can tumble into it from a once-vaunted spot. John Edwards looked just fine to me … until he didn’t. When the awful facts emerged, all of a sudden the sleaze was obvious. What a creep! And it was all over his face! How could I have failed to notice it?
Delk
Is there a pee tape?
Was Roy Moore involved? What about Falwell Jr?
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: the first two questions I always ask: (1) how old was she, and (2) did you cross a state line?
M31
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I propose to you that sex with Rep. Gaetz was valued at approximately negative 3 million dollars, and so, in fact, nothing of value was exchanged. I rest my case.”
debbie
@karen marie:
Nice back for a beard.
Jeffro
Is anyone keeping a running tab of all the ways that karma has caught up to trumpublicans over the past few years? It must be tremendous.
who am I forgetting?
dmsilev
@germy: Gaetz aside, does the guy who got sued for defaming a rescue diver as ‘pedoguy’ really want to make that pun?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@germy:
I love how the first reply was asking Gaetz if he bought them all a round of drinks
JPL
Has trump disowned him yet?
germy
@Hungry Joe:
All Republicans get the faces they deserve.
The Thin Black Duke
This smile may never leave my face.
Baud
@Steve in the ATL:
Negotiating union contracts is quite different than what I would have guessed.
Steve in the ATL
@dmsilev: “you know, I’ve paid for sex…”
Old Man Shadow
@CaseyL: Trump has no loyalty to anyone unless that person has the goods on him for something illegal.
There’s no reason he’d help Gaetz.
debbie
@The Thin Black Duke:
🤣🤣🤣
Mary G
Refusal to allow sex ed has allowed all kinds of weird shit to develop in right wingers:
MomSense
@Ruviana:
This is going to get so weird and so ugly.
Baud
@Mary G:
Jesus Christ laid eggs?
MomSense
@Mary G:
Wow. They really think rabbits lay eggs?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@M31:
“On one hand, Rep. Gaetz’ young lovers were treated to nice accommodations and top tier meals and spirits. On the other hand, they had to get intimate with Rep. Gaetz, so it is really a wash.”
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: maybe I handle it differently from most labor lawyers…that would explain my last performance review!
Roger Moore
@CaseyL:
It was probably some career civil servant at DOJ who did this, not one of the higher-up political types. Either that, or someone else who wanted a Congressional seat figured it would be easier with Gaetz out of the way.
geg6
Isn’t Gaetz good buddies with TFG, Jr?
I think they are both giant cokeheads. And that crazy eyed girlfriend of Jr.’s has some weird predilections, based on what I read about how she treated her assistants. All these people are sickos.
MomSense
@Baud:
Maybe they just really really need some eggs.
Raoul Paste
I just hope the young girls involved are not horribly smeared on national TV. But fortunately, that’s a hard case to make . Under age is under age
raven
An official just collapsed on the court in the Gonzaga-USC game. It doesn’t look good.
WaterGirl
@germy: For real? He can’t be that stupid, can he?
debbie
@MomSense:
Jesus said so, so yes.
Baud
@raven:
Yikes!
Steve in the ATL
@raven: damn—now the officials are flopping too? They must have watched Notre dame losing to Georgia too many times.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@raven:
I’ve always been surprised that doesn’t happen more.
JPL
So does this mean that Matt’s engagement is off?
dmsilev
@MomSense:
Cadbury has gotten very good with their genetic engineering. Also, not enough is said about the tragic overcrowding in the Peep hatcheries.
raven
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: He’s up!!!
My dad had a good friend officiating a MSU-Illinois game and he died on the field. You couldn’t have medical care closer but it wasn’t enough. This is much better.
WaterGirl
@JPL: coffee boy.
stacib
@JPL: I saw this earlier today. That dog needs to go home to Delaware and stay there. Two “bites” and he’s only been there under two months – that’s too much. I’ve been bitten by a Shepard before, and I still have the scars some 50 years later. I did exactly as the Officer Friendly (who has visited my school the previous week) suggested when I saw the dog and it’s owner approaching. I sat absolutely still on the bike I was riding to let them pass, and that dog bit the shit out of me. Wrapped his entire mouth around my 10-year old thigh. Major may be the sweet dog Biden says he is, but for right now, he needs to be removed from around strangers.
counterfactual
@CaseyL: It spun out of an investigation of Florida GOP fixer Joel Greenberg, who got indicted last July for a number of sex trafficking charges.
mrmoshpotato
@Mary G: Do these assclowns believe human women lay eggs too? (Yes.)
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Only the best people!
mrmoshpotato
@MomSense:
We aren’t already there? Eek!
raven
@stacib: I had that happen to me when I was in grad school. The dog was on a porch and I was on my bike. He went all the way around the bike and bit me on the leg. Animal control was no help so I went down and banged on the door. A guy came to the door and I lit his ass up. He looked at me, broke into tears and said “It’s not my dog and my best friend just died in the Valu Jet crash”!
karen marie
On a completely different note, this lovely woman designed and made a desk chair/dog bed for people who have a needy dog. It’s terrific!
Redshift
@The Moar You Know:
Even if it was, “across state lines” means that can’t save him.
Redshift
@MomSense:
But enough about Gaetz’s looks…
Kattails
@M31: harsh but fair.
Baud
@raven:
Is it too soon to LOL?
WaterGirl
@JPL: I think it’s weird that the Axios article specifically mentions “sex with women“. Maybe this is all a cover because of his “adopted” secret boy?
WaterGirl
@stacib: The first “bite” never even broke the skin. Let’s see what this one was – it may be way overblown, also.
John Cole
This was a good title for a post and you swine did not appreciate it.
JPL
@WaterGirl: Oh my.. How soon before we hear about threesomes triple ick
The Moar You Know
@Redshift: oh, I know. Dude’s hosed. He can do this the easy way or the hard way. My bet, because he’s fucking stupid, is that he will do it the hard way.
Ken
@WaterGirl: They are all live girls, so it’s OK according to (googles) Rep. Edwin Edwards.
(At least, I assume they’re all alive. Depends how much projection was involved with the pizza parlor stories, I suppose.)
randal m sexton
So, Matt Gaetz is the Roy Moore of Jeffery Epsteins ? I never know what these things exactly mean but I can make them up now. And my 64 year old azzz gonna get THE jab inna week, OMFG!!
trollhattan
A girl? That part at least, surprises.
Diaper Dave Vitter can help. ‘Tis barely a flesh wound for a Republican.
Kattails
@stacib:I am in total agreement. A neighbor of mine has a huge dog idiotically named Puppy who she thinks is just fine. The dog would nip people, rush people out in the road, had to be bodily constrained by her partner one time when I came to the plate glass door or it would have gone through it. But it was always “she’s just being protective”. Puppy rushed at me one day when I stopped in the road, stepped out of the car to say hi. Really menacing. I’ve gotten this before from dog people–“oh just don’t look straight at them”. how about “oh just keep your damned animal under control”.
Finally she bit another friend of ours, who was also standing in the road, and what people don’t realize is that it isn’t just the depth of the teeth marks. Dogs’ jaws are designed for crushing. It took literally two months for the wound to heal as the tissue between the upper and lower bite marks got necrotic. This was on the front of her leg. I have had more lousy encounters with badly controlled and/or trained dogs than you want to hear about, which is a shame.
craigie
@MomSense:
Also too, Peter Rabbit has nothing to do with Easter. This is not the rabbit you are looking for.
Steve in the ATL
@John Cole: song titles or GTFO!
Also, we are philistines.
Steve in the ATL
@craigie: yeah right—you clearly haven’t read the Bible.
Brachiator
@craigie:
Hell, I never understood what the Easter Bunny had to do with Easter. Or Easter Bonnets. Or William Bonney for that matter.
Kattails
What I meant to say was that our little Mattie has made my skin crawl from just about the minute I heard about him and his seriously off stories. Nothing he’s done or said has ever mitigated that, and the Bible thumping only exacerbates it.
Barbara
@The Moar You Know: How does leaving Congress help?
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@geg6: Gov. Gav. sits in the Governor’s Mansion and says, “I’m being recalled, but thank God Almighty, I’m not still married to her.”
Barbara
@stacib: I can’t imagine a more stressful living situation for a dog than the White House, but especially for a dog with guardian instincts.
trollhattan
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA:
The man has demonstrated an ability to recognize and correct a mistake.
I still don’t know what happened to her–either her previous self was an act or head trauma &/or drugs happened at some point.
Another Scott
@karen marie: From your link:
Why is “biological” there??
Yeah, there’s a bunch of weird stuff about this guy’s relationships.
Cheers,
Scott.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: I’m going with the drugs, and it’s an ongoing thing.
MagdaInBlack
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA: Yup.
Ken
Emphasizes his family values. Perfectly normal relationship, nothing weird going on.
Though if it turns out his “son” is the older brother of one of his ex-girlfriends, well…
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: @Ken:
That’s how I felt when I saw the word “women” in something I read about him earlier today… where they specified that it was sex with WOMEN that he was being investigated for.
Seemed really weird and really creepy. There is something very not right about him.
zhena gogolia
@stacib:
Yeah, unfortunately I think he shouldn’t be in the White House.
Sebastian
Is that around the time when he turned into super fanboy for TFG or was he already onboard before that?
Another Scott
@Brachiator: Stolen from pagan spring fertility festivals, etc.
Of course. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@zhena gogolia: I assume that he’ll be restricted to the Residence until he’s less mouthy around people.
We’ll see.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: So it wasn’t just me?
Last week he was talking about whether or not he would allow his “son” to go on spring break… It was really weird, and the obvious question that someone may have asked, but I don’t know: Does he pay his “son’s” tuition?
The Moar You Know
If I had to pick between my dog and the presidency I’d resign tomorrow. I hope they can get this worked out. Major is young; he can be trained out of this.
craigie
@Barbara:
It helps us a lot. Him, not so much.
The Moar You Know
Gaetz is a valuable resource to the Republican Party. He will stay one even if the young lady in question is underage (see Moore, Roy). But they’ll have to introduce him to the underside of the bus if there’s been any male/male shenanigans going on. Which there obviously has been, but let’s see just how long his GOP handlers and the media can keep that under wraps.
Gin & Tonic
Since I’m among friends, I’ll admit that I knew that girlfriend back in 1971 was underage (as was I.) But, you know, after over four decades of marriage, three kids and two grandkids, I don’t suspect she’ll go to the FBI.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Not just us:
SFAW
@JPL:
Disowned him? Hell, That Fucking Guy is probably admiring Gaetz for boinking a teenager. Although he might also be pissed that Gaetz didn’t share with him.
SFAW
That boy ain’t right.
DCrefugee
Okay…time for a #DadJoke…
There was this mad scientist. He was researching immortality, and had discovered an extract made from the pineal gland of a mynah bird extended the lives of the porpoises he had in his lab. One day, he ran out of mynah birds, so he left his lab. When he returned to his lab with fresh mynah birds, he discovered a lion sleeping in front of the door. He stepped over the lion and entered the lab, whereupon he was immediately arrested. The charge? Transporting mynahs across a staid lion for immortal porpoises.
I’ll see myself out…
craigie
@DCrefugee:
That was a long way to go for that result…
West of the Cascades
@DCrefugee: sounds like a violation of the Florida Mann Act.
Ken
Was it Gaetz’s people trying to get out ahead of the story, but in that “doth protest too much” style that’s probably somewhere in TV Tropes? “Rep. Gaetz wants to emphasize that all his dates have been with adult women, absolutely no little blonde girls or burly men. And all the women were still alive at the time of the date.”
Ken
Actually it was condensed from the usual way of telling it.
(And I’ve also heard it as “state lion”, which requires a long digression about the accident with the truck from the state zoo. But I rather prefer this version because of the word change; “staid lion” vs. “state line”.)
Warblewarble
GAETZLIGHTING.
Martin
I bet one million quatloos that the so-called extortion was someone close to Trump who was willing to get him a Trump pardon for a large enough sum.
jonas
The cops who finally break down those doors will probably need years of therapy…
Ken
@jonas: For some reason I’m thinking of the scene in The Choirboys where the cops raid the S&M parlor.
Kay
“Someone” has alleged this.
geg6
@Kattails:
To be fair, I’d always disliked cats because I had an inordinate number of encounters with other people’s cats where I got bitten. I have a cat of my own now and she hasn’t bitten anyone, other than love nips, ever since she was a kitten. Don’t blame the animal. Young shelter dogs like Major almost always grow out of it with loving owners. If it’s happening with an adult dog, it’s the owner who is responsible for the dog’s terrible discipline 90%+ of the time.
debbie
@Ken:
God, he has people?
Miss Bianca
@Mary G: Man, the replies to that tweet are comedy gold.
@karen marie: wow, that’s cool.
Morzer
Well, color me amazed that an aggressively creepy member of the Trumpedopublicans turns out to be a Trumpedopublican.
EmanG
There’s a joke I can’t remember that ends with: He was arrested for transporting a mynah across staid lions for immoral porpoises….
J R in WV
Rachael Maddow started her show with a very long discussion of the county tax guy in a small FLA county… which was interesting, guy bought guns and body armor and badges for his groomsmen friends whom he hired, then started a private for profit company he ran out of the county tax department. Then got busted for lots of chicanery. Then underage girls.
Then she linked that scandal to Matt Gaetz’s underage girl scandal… Oops Matt, guess you done f’ed up BAD!
I also wonder about the demonology, dungeons under the RNC HQ, underage girls on salary with various Republican election committees, everything Qanon could dream up, only with Republicans as the evildoers.
SiubhanDuinne
@MomSense:
The only eggs I eat are from Cage-Free Christ.
cokane
The Liberal Case for Fucking Teenagers
By Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi
go ahead and steal it for twitter, @DougJ, It’d make me happy
Ken
@Kay: Definitely trying too hard to get out in front of the story.
Patricia Kayden
Kay
I don’t know- sounds more and more like “across state lines” to me.
Kay
@Ken:
I get impatient with this parsing from my people – they can’t try this with me! :)
“specific”
Kay
@Ken:
They always act like you’re putting on airs when you use the word, too. “Travel? I didn’t TRAVEL. I just went there”.
OMFG you could scream.
Villago Delenda Est
@West of the Cascades: ISWYDT
Yutsano
@Mary G: There’s a guy running for insurance commissioner in Sergeant Pup’s feed that we might want to consider doing some ActBlue love for.
brendancalling
I’m sure someone else has already shit posted this but…
https://youtu.be/GlN3oEjMpUQ
yellowdog
@SFAW: How do we know he didn’t?
AnotherBruce
@Jeffro: David Koch died in 2019.
Nettoyeur
@Viva BrisVegas: Hmm. Ghislaine may know.
Shalimar
@Another Scott: Another weird aspect of that story is that Nestor’s sister who Gaetz dated is apparently deceased now. She would be mid to late 20s. What happened to her?
Morzer
@Ken:
Throwing himself under the wheels of the story bus.
Ben Cisco
@John Cole: I just saw it Cole, and I wholeheartedly agree.
Morzer
@John Cole:
You gave the post a title?
sheldon vogt
@Delk: Holding out hope for Franklin Graham.