Matt Gaetz (R-FL) investigated for sex trafficking

"The scandal that’s currently rocking Washington started less than 24 hours ago when Axios reported that Florida congressman Matt Gaetz was eyeing an “early retirement to take a job at Newsmax,” according to sources. It was a story that didn’t make much sense: Why would a young Republican congressman from a ruby red district (the Cook Political Report has his district as a +22 GOP), who would surely be reelected, take early retirement to work at a second-tier conservative media outlet? It defied all political logic. But a few hours later, when The New York Times published a story about his alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl, the whole thing made a lot more sense.

The 38-year-old congressman is one of the most famous House Republicans largely because he’s never met a microphone he didn’t like. He’s a regular on Fox News, a culture warrior for the right, often tweeting about the “wokeification of the military,” various Hunter Biden scandals real and imagined, and recalling Gavin Newsom. During the Trump presidency, Gaetz distinguished himself as a disgusting sycophant who would do anything for then president Donald Trump, once tweeting a threat against Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen, “Hey @michaelcohen212,” he wrote. “Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot…” The tweet was later deleted.

Gaetz also worked with Mo Brooks and Rand Paul to try to overturn the 2020 election of Joe Biden, and he used the terrifying “alt-right” group the Proud Boys for “security” at an event he attended. He also brought a rabid holocaust denier to Trump’s 2018 State of the Union address.

Since the scandal broke, Gaetz has done almost everything a crisis-communications firm would tell you not to. He did an interview on the Tucker Carlson show that Carlson later called “one of the weirdest interviews I’ve ever conducted.” Gaetz used the interview to try to drag Carlson into it by alleging “I’m not the only person onscreen right now who’s been falsely accused of a terrible sex act. You were accused of something you did not do, so you know what this feels like.” Carlson responded, perhaps not thrilled by the comparison, “You just referred to a mentally ill viewer who accused me of a sex crime 20 years ago. "

www.vogue.com/article/matt-gaetz-scandal

Keep it klassy, Matt.

The federal investigation into Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is focused on allegations that the junior congressman had a sexual relationship with at least one minor, and is scrutinizing the Republican's conduct not only in Florida but in other states too, three sources familiar with the investigation tell ABC News.

The investigation, first reported by the New York Times Tuesday and confirmed by ABC News, has sent shockwaves through Republican circles, particularly among close associates of former President Donald Trump, who considered Gaetz a staunch ally and loyal friend.

"I have not had a relationship with a 17-year-old. That is totally false," Gaetz told Fox News' Tucker Carlson in an interview Tuesday night. "That is false and records will bear that out to be false."

Sources told ABC News the investigation has been going on for months and began during the Trump administration. Former Attorney General Bill Barr was briefed on the investigation's progress several times, the sources said.

One source told ABC News that federal authorities have already interviewed multiple witnesses as part of their probe.

Gaetz has reportedly told confidants he is considering retiring from Congress and possibly joining the right-wing media outlet Newsmax, according to an Axios report earlier Tuesday.

Yet within the last several weeks Gaetz started reaching out to prominent attorneys, according to one source. The source said that one of the attorneys Gaetz asked to represent him was Washington attorney Bill Burck, who represented Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus and Don McGahn during the Mueller probe. Burck turned down the case, according to a person familiar with the decision."

abcnews.go.com/Politics/feds-florida-investigation-rep-gaetz-sources/story?id=76796794