The 42-year old stands accused of what the New York Times called “an array of illegal and untoward conduct”, behaviour that could yet result in criminal charges and further derail his already tarnished career.
It is now clear that when Gaetz was nominated by president-elect Donald Trump for the post of Attorney General, many of his Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill already knew the scale of his alleged misconduct.
The report claims that between 2017 and 2020 Gaetz made payments in excess of $90,000 to a dozen different women, and used illegal drugs including cocaine and ecstasy on multiple occasions.
Gaetz denies any laws were broken, claiming that during his 30s he was “working very hard, and playing hard too”.
It will now fall to the Department of Justice – ironically, the very government department that Trump wanted him to lead – to determine whether a fresh federal investigation of his conduct is warranted.
But what rings clear as a bell is that Gaetz should never, ever have been chosen by Trump as a possible future Attorney General.
The entire selection of Gaetz is still shrouded in a degree of mystery. Trump’s transition co-chair, Susie Wiles, who will become White House Chief of Staff in January, was reportedly blindsided by the announcement.
Gaetz previously said the controversy over his potential nomination ‘was unfairly becoming a distraction’ to the work of the incoming administration (Photo: Mike Blake/Reuters)Trump’s eagerness to strip the Department of Justice of its traditional (but not constitutionally enshrined) independence may have been at the root of his willingness to embrace Gaetz.
But the report makes it clear that Republicans knew the extent of Gaetz’s alleged misconduct in late November when they voted not to release the Ethics Committee report publicly.
At the very least, everyone involved in the process would have been aware that Gaetz would be at the risk of blackmail in the event that he ever rose to the position of Attorney General.
One America News Network, a pro-Trump, far-right network is still planning to go ahead with “The Matt Gaetz Show” every weeknight in primetime. Unless, of course, he’s arrested by then.
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