At the twilight of the Donald Trump administration, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) sought a precautionary pardon for any crime he and his allies in Congress may have committed, The New York Times reports.
Gaetz is currently under federal investigation into possible sex trafficking in connection with an alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl, focusing mostly on whether he paid to travel with him. The Justice Department is also investigating whether Gaetz paid several women for sex on several visits to Florida alongside his close ally Joel Greenberg, the former Seminole County tax collector. Gaetz has denied the allegations.
It is unclear whether Gaetz or Trump knew of the investigation into the Florida congressman, but the White House declined anyway, believing that the a priori pardon would set an improper precedent, according to the Time.
A Gaetz spokesman said in a statement to the Time, “Inbound political operatives have confused a call for a pardon from Rep. Gaetz – where he asked President Trump to forgive” everyone from himself, his administration, Joe Exotic “- with these false and increasingly bizarre, partisan accusations against him. ”
Gaetz appeared on the Sean Hannity show, one of the first-hour programs Trump knew how to watch, to defend a wide range of pardons in December 2020, shortly after news that Trump planned to pardon the former security adviser National Michael Flynn, who had already pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
“President Trump should pardon Michael Flynn, he should pardon Turkey for Thanksgiving, he should pardon any of his administration officials, Joe, if he were exotic. Voice from the left a bloody lust that will only be extinguished if they come after the people who worked so hard to encourage the Trump Administration with the policies, vigor and effectiveness they gave to the American people, ”Gaetz told the Fox News host.
“I think the president should exercise that power of pardon effectively and robustly,” he added.
The case against Greenberg led federal agents to investigate Gaetz’s conduct and investigators believe the two may have had sex with the same 17-year-old. Greenberg is now in jail awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges after violating the terms of his bail.
In Congress, Gaetz has become a fierce advocate for the former president and a conservative advocate with a flare-up for media appearances. He has held talks with a number of conservative cable news channels — Fox News, One America News and Newsmax — about a post-Congress collaborative concert.
Gaetz has argued that the investigation into his relationships and travels is part of a plot to extort tens of millions from him and his father, former Florida State Senator Don Gaetz, whose net worth arrives to the hundreds of millions of dollars. The footnote of the research saga is geared toward a strange territory. A Florida lawyer named Don McGee, a Florida real estate developer previously convicted of fraud named Stephen Alford and a former Air Force intelligence officer named Bob Kent, is said to have urged Gaetz to pay them $ 25 million. dollars earlier this year. They said they would use him to rescue an American hostage in Iranian custody who has already been pronounced dead. Elder Gaetz brought a thread to a meeting with one of the men in cooperation with an FBI investigation.