WASHINGTON – Compared to most newcomers to Congress, it didn’t take long for Rep. Matt Gaetz. Phone calls from the president. Tours aboard Air Force One. Hundreds of television appearances. A darling in conservative circles.
However, just four years after arriving in Washington as a little-known Republican state legislator from Panhandle, Florida, the 38-year-old defender of Donald Trump faces a possible abrupt end to his once promising career because of a federal investigation. of sex trafficking.
The overwhelming reaction of Gaetz’s GOP colleagues – a deafening silence. This reflects the resentments he sparked during his dizzying rise as one of the celebrities at the party and the challenge he faces to keep his seat.
Government officials are investigating whether Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl and other minors and violated federal sex trafficking laws, people familiar with the investigation told the AP. No charges were filed and Gaetz denied the charges.
But with harmful new details emerging regularly, Gaetz’s political arc is beginning to resemble the myth of Icarus, which fell to the ground after ignoring warnings that his wax wings would melt if he flew too close to the sun.
The next few days will test the crisis management skills of one of the most visible members of the younger generation of Congress, who, critics say, is more concerned with promoting their own brand than with serious legislation.
“They are here for the notoriety and to present themselves at their base, and anything else that might come is secondary,” said Doug Heye, a Trump critic and former parliamentary advisor to the Republican Party. “And if you boo, that’s great too, as long as you’re watching.”
David Bossie, president of Citizens United, who supports conservative causes and candidates, countered that Gaetz “has been a conservative warrior, working every day to make America great again and fight for President Trump’s agenda.”
Gaetz’s congressional Twitter account is topped by a photo of him taking a selfie with Trump, apparently on Air Force One. In his personal Twitter account, Gaetz describes himself as “the Florida man. Bride. Tition. America First. ”He became engaged to Trump’s property in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in December.
Gaetz is quick with a quote and looks a little older than a college student. And on his own, he hardly leads a modest lifestyle while fighting for conservative causes.
In his 2020 autobiographical book, “Firebrand,” Gaetz praised Trump as someone “who doesn’t care about Puritan arrogance or moralistic ostentation.” He added: “If the life of the politicians’ family is not what really matters to voters, perhaps that is a good thing. I am a representative, not a monk. “
Chris Latvala, a former Republican Party colleague in the Florida legislature, suggests that while he was there, Gaetz went too far. On Friday, Latvala revived a 2020 tweet in which he accused Gaetz of creating a “game where FL House members earned ‘points’ for sleeping with married advisers, interns, lobbyists and lawmakers.”
Latvala wrote on Friday: “I’m just sorry that this guy may have killed other people, including possibly minors, before other people came to check on him.”
The game was also described by two other Florida Republicans, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal what was a private matter. Gaetz denied knowing about this.
The son of Don Gaetz, a wealthy businessman and former president of the Florida state Senate, Matt Gaetz arrived in Congress after six years building his conservative credentials in the state chamber with pro-gun and other legislation.
A few months after Gaetz arrived in Washington in 2017, when Trump’s presidency also began, Special Adviser Robert Mueller began investigating Russia’s influence in Trump’s election.
Gaetz took action to defend Trump, presenting a resolution alleging investigative irregularities designed to get Mueller to resign, and essentially never stopped. His persistence was noted by Trump, who started calling the young lawmaker.
The day before a 2019 House hearing on Russia’s investigation, Gaetz tweeted to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who had denounced Trump and was about to testify, asking: “Does your wife and father-in-law know about your girlfriends? The House Ethics Committee formally warned Gaetz for the tweet, which some saw as an intimidation attempt, and he apologized.
Gaetz was highly visible again months later, when the House began its impeachment investigation into Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to provide political filth about Democrat Joe Biden, who would eventually defeat Trump in the election.
Most notably, Gaetz led a group of House Republicans who raided Capitol Police officers and entered a basement meeting room, where members of the House Intelligence Committee interrogated witnesses. They caused a delay of several hours that had little impact on the investigation, but it caught the attention of the press.
Gaetz was conquering the spotlight in other ways, too. He brought in a white nationalist who questioned the Holocaust as his guest for Trump’s State of the Union address in 2018, claiming later to be ignorant of the man’s views.
In March 2020, when the pandemic was taking hold, Gaetz wore a gas mask on the floor of the Chamber. Critics accused him of downplaying COVID-19, as Trump repeatedly did, but Gaetz said he was drawing attention to legislators’ vulnerability to the disease.
Meanwhile, his visibility was growing. Gaetz has made 346 cable news appearances during the week since August 2017, according to Media Matters, a liberal group that monitors conservative media activity.
This makes Gaetz second in Congress only after Representative Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a fellow Trump ally and ubiquitous TV presence.
In the midst of all this, Gaetz did not hesitate to criticize his Republican colleagues.
In a 2020 tweet, he accused Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr, RN.C. of “screwing with all Americans” by dividing up actions using insider information while the coronavirus pandemic was starting. The Justice Department investigated Burr, but did not press charges.
In Gaetz’s book, in a first chapter called “Sex and money,” he wrote that, when he came to Congress, he asked the current minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., For a seat on the Armed Services Committee. Gaetz wrote that “to my surprise,” McCarthy suggested that he contribute $ 75,000 to the Republican Party’s campaign committee – a donation that Gaetz wrote that he actually doubled.
Last January, Gaetz helped lead an effort to oust Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., From her post as No. 3 leader of the Republican Party after she was among the 10 Republicans who voted for Trump’s second impeachment.
Gaetz even traveled to a campaign event in Wyoming, where he asked voters to oppose his re-election in 2022 and accused her of ignoring “the will of the people”. Days later, Cheney was re-elected to his leadership role.
All of this helped to keep him away from many Republicans, several Republican lawmakers and advisers said.
Among its only supporters this week is Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Who tweeted: “Believe me, rumors and headlines are not the same as the truth.” Greene became an outcast, even among some Republicans, for showing support for false and violent feelings.
Having strong support among colleagues can help besieged lawmakers to retain their seats if party leaders begin to view them as a risk. Ominously, McCarthy called the charges against Gaetz “serious”.
According to reports, Gaetz had inconclusive discussions with Newsmax, a small pro-Trump television channel, about working for her or another network. A person close to Newsmax said on Friday that the network has no plans to hire him as a talent.
Associated Press writers Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Florida, Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Florida, Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.