Matt Gaetz: sex scandal threatens one of Donald Trump's top political heirs
- Anthony Zurcher - @awzurcheron
- BBC reporter for North America
Investigation turned into a complex story involving "sugar daddies", extortion, fraud and sex trafficking
Matt Gaetz, a rising star in the Republican Party known for his exuberant lifestyle and controversial statements, may now be involved in a sex scandal with the potential to end his career, including in the legal sphere, and affect the former's political legacy. President Donald Trump.
Gaetz-gate, as the scandal is being called, began last week after reports surfaced that the Florida congressman in his third term may have had sex with a 17-year-old girl. Since then, the story has evolved into a case involving "sugar daddies" (men who relate to younger women for money and gifts), extortion, fraud and sex trafficking.
- There are also reports that Gaetz showed photos of naked women on his phone to lawmakers in the plenary of the Chamber of Representatives (equivalent to the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies), bragging about sexual exploits.
The deputy vehemently denied all accusations and refuted requests to resign.
Gaetz was first elected to the United States Congress in 2016, representing a district in northern Florida - a region more politically similar to conservative neighbor Alabama than the state's most multicultural southern tip.
Prior to that, he spent six years as a Florida state legislator.
Newer members of the House of Representatives generally act in relative anonymity, unless they have managed to attract the media spotlight, like Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or have influential political connections.
Gaetz had both, and used them to become the face of a new generation of Republican politicians.
The 38-year-old, sharp-tongued congressman has been a frequent guest on conservative cable TV channels in the United States. There have been 346 weekday appearances since August 2017, according to the liberal surveillance group Media Matters.
Upon taking office in Congress, he quickly expanded his audience and drew the attention of the most powerful among consumers of conservative media content: Donald Trump.
Matt Gaetz supported efforts to expel Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who voted in favor of Donald Trump's impeachment
Gaetz became a "warm-up" speaker, preceding Trump whenever the then president campaigned in Florida during his run for reelection in 2020. He met his fiancee, Ginger Luckey, 26, while visiting the resort Mar-a- Trump Lake. He posted selfies taken on Twitter on Air Force One, the US presidential aircraft.
The Florida congressman also gained political notoriety with a variety of viral advertising tricks, including wearing a gas mask in the House of Representatives plenary during the debate on the first coronavirus pandemic aid bill in March 2020 .
He also joined a group of Congressional Republicans who limited witnesses to Trump's first impeachment in 2019.
In January, Gaetz traveled to the state of Wyoming to hold a rally against Liz Cheney, the Republican congressional leader who denounced Trump and voted for the impeachment of the president after the violent attack by Trump supporters on the Capitol, headquarters of the American Congress, on 6 January 2021.
Children are under the care of the American authorities
Gaetz was also the center of the most surprising stories, as a revelation last year that he lives with a non-biological and unadopted 19-year-old "son": Cuban immigrant Nestor Galban, who met him when he was 12 and when Gaetz he was dating his older sister.
What are the charges against Gaetz?
Gaetz, as revealed firsthand by The New York Times , is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice on suspicion of having had sex with a 17-year-old girl and paying her to cross state borders. Interstate trafficking of underage children for sex is a federal crime in the United States.
It appears that the investigation, which was supposedly endorsed by Trump-appointed attorney general William Barr, is part of a wide-ranging investigation into sex trafficking that led to the indictment of Joel Greenberg, a Florida politician who is a friend of Gaetz.
He was arrested last June and later charged with a number of crimes, including harassment, fraud, bribery, embezzlement, identity theft, forgery and sex trafficking.
According to the American newspaper, this latest investigation focuses on suspicions that Greenberg and Gaetz searched for women on "sugar daddies" sites, where women often find men offering money and gifts in exchange for sex.
"The New York Times analyzed receipts from the Cash App, a mobile payment application, and Apple Pay that show Gaetz and Greenberg payments for one of the women, and a Greenberg payment for a second," the newspaper said. "The women told friends that the payments were for sex with the two men, according to two close people."
Greenberg and Gaetz were also recorded by security cameras several years ago entering a closed office of tax collectors over a weekend, according to information obtained by the Orlando Sentinel newspaper . The footage also shows Greenberg examining a basket of returned driver's licenses that would be discarded.
"An investigation points out that Greenberg used his access as an elected official to search for information about a girl between 14 and 17 years old in a state database, in order to 'produce a false identification document and facilitate his efforts to get involved in commercial business. with sexual acts' ", says Orlando Sentinel .
Greenberg denied the charges.
The friendship between Greenberg and Gaetz is, at the very least, proving politically damaging. But it can end up in court too.
What has Gaetz said?
Gaetz denied having sex with underage girls, or paid women to have sex or even visited "sugar daddies" websites.
He said he was "generous" with girlfriends in the past, but that he never engaged in illegal conduct.
Congressman Matt Gaetz and his fiancee, Ginger Luckey, went to Trump's resort, Mar-a-Lago
On Monday morning (05/04), the conservative Washington Examiner newspaper published an opinion column by Gaetz drawing parallels with what he characterized as unjustified political persecution of other figures on his political spectrum, such as Trump, the judge of the Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh and Senator John McCain.
"Washington's cycles of scandals are predictable, and sex is especially potent in politics," he writes. "Let me first remind everyone that I am a representative in Congress, not a monk, and certainly not a criminal."
During a controversial appearance on Tucker Carlson's Fox News talk show last week, Gaetz claimed that the Justice Department investigation was actually related to an attempt by a former government official to extort money from his family.
"On March 16, my father received a text message demanding a meeting, in which a person demanded $ 25 million (or R $ 141 million) in exchange for making terrible sex trafficking charges against me disappear," said Gaetz.
David McGee, a former Justice Department official appointed by Gaetz in this charge, denies that this has occurred. The Washington Post reports that the agency is conducting a separate investigation into whether an attempt to contact Gaetz's father and offer legal aid in exchange for helping to release an American detained in Iran could be an extortion.
Gaetz also told Carlson that an ex-girlfriend of his, whom the Fox presenter himself even met, was pressured by the FBI to accuse the congressman of exchanging political favors for cash donations. The congressman, however, did not provide details about this episode.
On the other hand, Luke Ball, Gaetz's longtime aide, spokesman and communications director for his congressional office, resigned on Friday.
"Congressman Matt Gaetz and Luke Ball's office agreed it would be better to split up," Gaetz's chief of staff told the New York Times . "We thank him for his time in our office and wish him well in the future."
Before the story about the Justice Department investigation broke out, Gaetz himself was considering resigning from Congress to accept a job as a commentator on the conservative Newsmax cable network.
What does this mean for Trump?
Given that Gaetz was one of Trump's fiercest defenders, the whole controversy has become, at least in part, the latest indirect battle over the former president's legacy and his influence on American politics.
Matt Gaetz was a fierce supporter of Donald Trump
With Trump out of office, politicians like Gaetz have become his political heirs, testing whether conservative confrontational rhetoric, the inclination towards cultural war and right-wing populism can be a long-term model for electoral success.
Gaetz certainly followed Trump's script in defending himself against these accusations. He admitted nothing and made several accusations against his critics and detractors.
In his Washington Examiner article , Gaetz echoes Trump: "They're not coming after me, they're coming after you - I'm just on the way."
It remains to be seen whether the defense adopted by Trump will work for someone without the surname Trump.
Some Democrats have already called for him to be knocked out of his seat on the House Judiciary Committee. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she agreed, but if investigations conclude that the charges are true.
Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy said the charges were "serious" and that he planned to speak with Gaetz on the issue.
At least so far, Trump has remained silent on Gaetz's accusations, as advised by allies. If the former president joins the game, either through press releases or in an interview with a conservative TV channel, it could reinforce Gaetz's defense or deliver a politically fatal blow.
In the end, however, the last word on Gaetz's future lies with the federal prosecutors investigating him.
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