Stretching, bending, folding, and mutilating the law is a feature, not a bug, of today’s Republican party. That is nothing short of tragic but it’s unfortunately true. The latest member of Congress (or former member, depending on how you view this) to decide to push the law to the limits is Matt Gaetz. That makes a great deal of sense. Gaetz is livid with his compatriots who voted by secret ballot to reveal the results of his ethics investigation. Gaetz thought that was all gone and done with. He’d turned the page on it already. But for reasons not known at this time, other forces intervened and now the ethics report will be made available to the public. So this is what Matty came up with after stewing all day.
Someone suggested the following plan to me:
1. Show up 1/3/2025 to congress
2. Participate in Speaker election (I was elected to the 119th Congress, after all…)
3. Take the oath
4. File a privileged motion to expose every “me too” settlement paid using public funds (even of…— Former Congressman Matt Gaetz (@FmrRepMattGaetz) December 18, 2024
The tweet ends: “(even of former members) 5. Resign and start my @OANN program at 9pm EST on January 6, 2025.”
I know what you’re thinking and so am I, “is that legal?” Beats the hell out of me. At first blush I would say, no, it isn’t legal because Gaetz already resigned from Congress and I don’t believe you can just walk something like that back. So I guess we’re going to find out if there’s some kind of a loophole, which will allow Gaetz to take the oath, vote on a Speaker, and then resign and go be a talking head on OANN.
His motivation is the story here: He mentions two goals, voting for a Speaker (can we take that to mean that he won’t vote for Mike Johnson?) and filing a motion to expose “me too” settlements. The clear motivation there seems to be, “if I’m going down, you’re going down with me, glub glub.”
And it would be interesting to see if government funds have been misappropriated for such things. Can Gaetz get that rolling and see it through to conclusion in just one day? Again, I would think not, at first blush. If Gaetz is going to file this privileged motion he’s dreamt up, presumably he’s going to do that as a member of Congress. Can he then see this motion through to fruition as a private citizen? Or turn the motion and its conclusion over to somebody else?
This is a case for somebody who knows all the ins and outs of the bylaws of the House and maybe of both chambers of Congress. That person is not me, but I do expect somebody with that knowledg to chime in before too many more hours go by.
Gaetz seems to be out for revenge, ala Trump. And in all probability, Gaetz knows whose closets have what skeletons kicking around. (Does he know what Trump or Putin have on Lindsey Graham? That do I long to hear, but the Graham cracker may take it to his grave.)
Maybe this is how things will start out in January, Gaetz one day in the House to wreck whatever he can of it, and we are waiting with bated breath to see what Trump does on his “one day as a dictator.” That should be noteworthy.
I guess the watchword for 2025 and maybe the entirety of the Trump 2.0 administration is that the Republicans are going to be busy destroying each other and damaging the rest of us as much as possible. “Temporary hardship,” was how Elon put it.
We guaranteed you would get spectacle from Washington when Trump got elected and it’s already taking form.
🤔 When I heard the House Ethics Committe is going to release the Gaetz report, I turned to hubby and said, “I betcha they heard some scuttlebutt that Gaetz is going to test if he can both take his House seat on Jan.3 AND have his OAN show…they figure releasing the report will keep him from even trying!” Some Reps and Senators, like Ted Cruz, already do more broadcasting than legislating. Gaetz would love to be the first full-on moonlighter!! 🤣
Yes. He can do that. He resigned from this Congress but was also elected to the next one.
BUT, he was only elected “to the next” Congress as an INCUMBENT in the current one and the ONLY reason he resigned at all was in anticipation of becoming Trump’s AG and hoping that would put a stop to the report’s release at all.
I don’t believe he can legally return to Congress on Jan 3, especially as he’s already announced his intent to resign at the end of that day. (I also believe that would disrupt the announced special election in April to replace Gaetz; the primary election to replace Gaetz is set for Jan 28.)
It’s also worth noting that the current Speaker can always deny Gaetz’s credentials to enter the House, using Gaetz’s own words in his tweet to prove he has no intention to do his duty as an elected official and serve the people of his district.
I think it’s a fantasy on his part. He resigned his seat and the process in FL was triggered to fill it. I’m pretty sure he’s past the point of no return on the matter. However he faces another problem. His colleagues would have to vote to seat him. On the 3rd each member takes the oath and signs the book as part of the new Congress but there’s nothing to prevent Gaetz from being held back until the end of the process. Then a vote can be taken on whether to seat him. I doubt any fellow GOPer would vote yes on that one! And even with some defections there’s be no shortage of Democrats willing to block Gaetz being seated although I think only just enough to get the job done. Jeffries would want the GOP to own the mess, but mess is exactly what they don’t want or need.
So unless I’m badly mistaken Bratty Matty’s scheme is a pipe dream. But if he does show up and try his stunt it will be entertaining as hell!