When I did a story on him earlier this week, Matt Gaetz claimed he’s never been accused of wrongdoing. There’s a good chance that in a short while, he’ll wish that was true. The House Ethics Committee has spent much time investigating allegations that Rep. Gaetz (R-Fla.) paid for sex with an underage girl. While many of us have heard these allegations before, the Committee keeps hitting a rather large wall commonly known as the Department of Justice.
The Daily Beast reports that two sources familiar with the goings-on say the DOJ is “stonewalling” the committee and is refusing to turn over key information about its own burgeoning criminal probe into Gaetz. So the congressional investigation has slowed to a crawl and committee members are pondering issuing subpoenas.
I have always believed journalists have the right to protect their sources but even so, I’ve tried not to go the whole “sources say” gambit because I often find it does not lend enough credibility to a story. But in this case, it appears the ethics committee has dotted its i’s and crossed its t’s. It has already authorized a sizeable number of subpoenas to the DOJ for the information but hasn’t served them yet, according to one source. But there’s another weird scenario here because the DOJ doesn’t put up this big of a fight, especially, as the Daily Beast notes, “the relevant investigation isn’t active.”
In general, the DOJ has willingly passed information to the committee as long as it wasn’t interfering with an active and ongoing investigation, and since the Gaetz investigation isn’t active, you wouldn’t think there would be a problem.
So this is a bit weird, although at this point it isn’t known whether talks have been completely shuttered. But it also doesn’t indicate what this could mean for the House probe—however, the source indicated that the committee remains hopeful that the DOJ will still cooperate.
The next steps could be crucial since the House’s probe could uncover damaging new information about Gaetz, even to the point of potentially providing grounds for disciplinary action and even expulsion, which is exactly what happened during the committee’s probe of former Rep. George Santos. And the Ethics Committee has, in the past, cooperated with the DOJ’s investigation into Gaetz.
The Ethics committee has waited patiently to resume its probe into Gaetz, which had begun in 2021, shortly after sex trafficking allegations surrounding the Florida Congressman became public. The House was controlled by Democrats at the time but the committee paused the investigation when the DOJ asked them to back down.
Then after all this political handwringing the DOJ declined to prosecute Gaetz and informed his lawyers in February 2023 that they would not be charging him with any crimes. This, after spending 30 months investigating allegations that Gaetz paid to have sex with a teen girl half his age. So, how did this even manage to come about?
Fortunately, the DOJ’s decision didn’t discourage his colleagues and within months, the Ethics probe had the green light it needed to go forward. The Daily Beast reports that this could have caused a conflict between the congressional investigators and the feds, leading the two probes could reach different conclusions. First, however, the Ethics committee needed to wrap up its extensive investigation into Santos, which as we know, eventually culminated in Santos being kicked out of Congress. Not long after that, the committee jump-started the Gaetz investigation anew.
And the committee is working with renewed vigor, having issued rounds of subpoenas and interview requests for the people who run in Gaetz’s circle. This includes key witnesses who could testify, and provide documents and other evidence that could fortify a case against him.
As the committee’s investigation builds, it looks like things are cooking. Investigators have subpoenaed Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend, who served as a key witness for the DOJ. They have also secured cooperation from Gaetz’s former buddy, Joel Greenberg (who was convicted of multiple charges connected to the alleged sex ring). But here’s the biggest piece of the pie: the panel has also subpoenaed the formerly underage teen girl who’s at the center of the allegations.
And of course, the House also has the roadmap left behind by the DOJ which will make it easier to zero in on the most significant sources, all due to years of public reporting about the DOJ’s probe. There’s so much here that the committee may not need to rely on the DOJ’s cooperation.
Or, who knows, they still might.
Either way, they are off to a good start, and Gaetz may have to take back his claim that he’s never been accused of wrongdoing. Or at the very least he might have to wipe sweat from that estimable forehead of his.
But I have to wonder if Republicans will learn anything from this. Like Donald Trump, far too many of them have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Democrats have also been in trouble occasionally (anybody remember Anthony Weiner?), but believe me, Republicans are way ahead of them.
It’s a relief that Santos was kicked to the curb but it will be an even bigger relief should Gaetz suffer the same fate.
“Or wipe sweat from that estimable forehead of his”—-I think you want the word “expansive” (wide or broad) instead or “estimable” (worthy of great respect)….
No that was exactly correct word for the meaning intended, INTERMINABLE! And leading to nowhere good!
Go ahead Merrick and pat yourself on the back for being the pride of the temple…while you sell the country down the phucking road. You’ve been stonewalling from the jump. You’re the reason this criminal traitor skated so long that none of his treasonist federal crimes will be addressed until AFTER HE TRIES TO STEAL THE NEXT ELECTION. You’d made a great capo in the camps.