The Matt Gaetz Soap Opera

[Pyperkub]

"we are in the middle of an investigation and you will leak sensitive information all over the internet. The answer is no, you can't have any of it. We dare you to issue subpoenas"

Yes, but the DoJ declined to charge him and (publicly) closed the case. Per the article:

Ah. My bad.

Maybe they just don't want to be part of the making of political hay. Or give more weight to the viewpoint that they are a political arm of whichever party is in power.

Obviously I have no idea.

Yeah, only thing I can think of is that someone flipped/gave new info, and DoJ is kicking the tires again... no charges filed definitely means they could file some other time (no double jeopardy/dismissed with prejudice, etc.)

[Smoove_B]

25 subpoenas related to the Gaetz investigation have been issued:

In a rare public update about the investigation, the committee said the high-profile probe into the firebrand Florida congressman has been the subject of “a significant and unusual amount of public reporting,” and that “much of that reporting has been inaccurate.”

“Notwithstanding the difficulty in obtaining relevant information from Representative Gaetz and others, the Committee has spoken with more than a dozen witnesses, issued 25 subpoenas, and reviewed thousands of pages of documents in this matter. Based on its review to date, the Committee has determined that certain of the allegations merit continued review,” the committee said. “During the course of its investigation, the Committee has also identified additional allegations that merit review.”

It is continuing to investigate whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct, engaged in illicit drug use or accepted improper gifts, matters that it first started investigating in April 2021, the panel said.

The committee also confirmed new lines of inquiry: whether Gaetz “dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship” and “sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.”

I'm sure this will all work out.

EDIT: Corrected!

[stessier]

It looks like the committee issued 25 subpoenas to various people - not all to Gaetz.

[Smoove_B]

I'm sure there's a good reason to file this close to midnight:

Rep. Matt Gaetz attended a drug-fueled sex party in 2017 with the 17-year-old girl at the center of the alleged sex trafficking scandal, according to legal documents filed to a Florida federal court shortly before midnight Thursday, which cite sealed affidavits from three eyewitness testimonies.

The minor, who was a junior in high school at the time, arrived in her mother’s car for a July 15, 2017, party at the Florida home of Chris Dorworth, a lobbyist and friend of Gaetz’s, according to a court filing written by defense attorneys who interviewed witnesses as part of an ongoing civil lawsuit Dorworth brought in 2023.

...

One eyewitness cited in the court filings, a young woman referred to as K.M., provided a sworn affidavit that claimed the teenage girl was naked, partygoers were there to “engage in sexual activities,” and “alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy … and marijuana” were present. The teenage girl was identified in the filings only as A.B.

“The discovery taken in this case to date reflects that on Saturday, July 15, 2017 … Dorworth, hosted a party at his residence … with the following guests present: (1) A.B.; (2) K.M.; (3) B.G.; (4) Matt Gaetz,” lawyers wrote in the filing, also listing several others. The defense lawyers filed testimonies from those three women — who the attorneys say placed Gaetz at Dorworth’s house that night — under seal pending a judge’s approval to make the records public.

[Isgrimnur]

Woman told House Ethics Committee she saw Gaetz have sex with a minor, lawyer says

The attorney who represents two women who were witnesses in the House Ethics Committee probe into former congressman Matt Gaetz said Friday that one of his clients told the panel she saw the congressman having sex with a minor.

“My client testified to the House Ethics Committee that she witnessed Matt Gaetz having sex with a minor,” said attorney Joel Leppard, whose clients sat for closed-door testimony before the committee as part of the now-dropped investigation into the Florida Republican.

[Max Peck]

Hacker Is Said to Have Gained Access to File With Damaging Testimony About Gaetz

An unidentified hacker has gained access to a computer file shared in a secure link among lawyers whose clients have given damaging testimony related to Matt Gaetz, the former Florida congressman who is President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to be attorney general, a person with knowledge of the activity said.

The file of 24 exhibits is said to include sworn testimony by a woman who said that she had sex with Mr. Gaetz in 2017 when she was 17, as well as corroborating testimony by a second woman who said that she witnessed the encounter.

The information was downloaded by a person using the name Altam Beezley at 1:23 p.m. on Monday, according to the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly. A lawyer connected to the case sent an email to the address associated with Altam Beezley, only to be informed in an automated reply that the recipient does not exist.

The material does not appear to have been made public by the hacker.

The documents include information that is under seal with the Justice Department, which investigated Mr. Gaetz but did not file charges, and the House Committee on Ethics, which has completed its own inquiry into the former congressman. The Ethics panel’s members are scheduled to meet on Wednesday to decide on whether to vote to release material it has gathered.

But the hacked trove of documents stems from an altogether different source: a civil suit being pursued by a friend of Mr. Gaetz’s, Christopher Dorworth, a Florida businessman. Mr. Dorworth filed the suit against both the woman who says she had sex with Mr. Gaetz when she was a minor and Joel Greenberg, an erstwhile ally of Mr. Gaetz who is serving an 11-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to federal sex trafficking charges involving the woman.

Mr. Dorworth has claimed that he was defamed by Mr. Greenberg and the woman, both of whom had told federal authorities that Mr. Dorworth hosted parties where he, they, Mr. Gaetz and others took drugs and openly had sex.

In mustering their defense, lawyers for Mr. Greenberg and the woman have solicited sworn statements from others who they say were witnesses. The 24 exhibits were attached to a motion prepared by lawyers for Mr. Greenberg and the woman in response to Mr. Dorworth’s suit.

In addition to the depositions from the woman who was a minor at the time of the encounter and the woman who said she was a witness, the hacked information also includes sworn testimony from Mr. Dorworth and his wife, as well as testimony from Michael Fischer, Mr. Gaetz’s former campaign treasurer, who is also said to have attended the party. It also contains various supporting material, such as the gate logs showing who entered the property of the Dorworth home on the evening in July 2017 when the two women said the sexual encounter with Mr. Gaetz occurred.

The material apparently taken by the hacker is unredacted and includes the names and other personal information of the witnesses but is otherwise said to be more damaging to Mr. Gaetz than to his accusers, according to the person familiar with the hack. The hacker had not contacted the lawyers as of Tuesday morning, and it was not clear what motive the person might have.

[Zaxxon]

'Damaging' testimony, as though that's still a thing in 2024 against GOP players.

[LordMortis]

'Damaging' testimony, as though that's still a thing in 2024 against GOP players.

Or convictions...

[Archinerd]

Prediction. Gaetz receives a pardon but not a Cabinet position.

[hepcat]

Prediction: Gaetz's wife will be talking with Melania about prenup renegotiation within a week.

[Holman]

Prediction: Gaetz's wife will be talking with Melania about prenup renegotiation within a week.

Gaetz's wife married him in 2021 only after everyone already knew what he was. She's part of the grift.

[hepcat]

But she can get even MORE money now that she has (and I say this with my best John Travolta in Battlefield Earth impression) LEVERAGE.

[WYBaugh]

But she can get even MORE money now that she has (and I say this with my best John Travolta in Battlefield Earth impression) LEVERAGE.

LOL

At work, we all do the Psychlos laugh anytime someone says leverage.

[hepcat]

I tried making a drinking game out of every time someone used that word in the movie. When I was released from the hospital the next day, they told me I lost.

[Grifman]

Gaetz report to be released:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/18/politics ... id=ios_app

[Hyena]

Gaetz report to be released:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/18/politics ... id=ios_app

[Alefroth]

Gaetz isn't done yet-

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2 ... e-00195398

“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 members)

5. Resign and start my @OANN program at 9pm EST on January 6, 2025.”

6. Profit!

[Punisher]

Can someone explain what that all means..
Including how 6 works in this instance.

[Alefroth]

Gaetz is tossing around a revenge plan that includes releasing the names of members of congress who have settled sexual misconduct suits with public funds. I have no idea if that's a thing. 6 is my addition and it's a humor.

[hepcat]

When is the Gaetz report being released? I’m actually curious about what’s in it.

[Holman]

That he's even making casual threats means that he afraid of what's about to come out about him.

The "filing a motion" part is where it breaks down. He is widely hated even by his own party, and there's no way he can exploit the fact of being a congressman to change that or to get results.

This is just bravado. If he's really trying to protect himself, he's doing it behind the scenes and begging a Trump pardon.

[hepcat]

When he issued his preemptive "I probably did some crappy things in my 30s" statement last week, I just knew there was something salacious in the report. I'm hoping it includes a car battery, a Russian dominatrix, pudding and NO safe word.

[Smoove_B]

I guess it was all true:

The House Ethics Committee found evidence that former Rep. Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex or drugs on at least 20 occasions, including paying a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017, according to a final draft of the panel’s report on the Florida Republican, obtained by CNN.

...

The panel investigated transactions Gaetz personally made, often using PayPal or Venmo, to more than a dozen women during his time in Congress, according to the report. Investigators also focused on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas – which they said “violated the House gift rule” – during which he “engaged in sexual activity” with multiple women, including one who described the trip itself as “the payment” for sex on the trip. On the same trip, he also took ecstasy, one woman on the trip told the committee.

Note:

Although the committee alleged that Gaetz violated state laws, the panel wrote that it did not find Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, writing that “although Representative Gaetz did cause the transportation of women across state lines for purposes of commercial sex, the Committee did not find evidence that any of those women were under 18 at the time of travel, nor did the Committee find sufficient evidence to conclude that the commercial sex acts were induced by force, fraud, or coercion.”

Boys will be boys! I guess we're all good then.

[Alefroth]

He could still be charged somewhere, right?

[Max Peck]

Or he could be elected to the presidency. America!

[Blackhawk]

Trump was only found to have paid off one woman for sex. Gaetz is winning!

[$iljanus]

He’s still ambassador material though! I’m sure there are many countries where they would be all, “Mad respect!” in whatever native language they speak.

[LordMortis]

I guess it was all true:

The House Ethics Committee found evidence that former Rep. Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex or drugs on at least 20 occasions, including paying a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017, according to a final draft of the panel’s report on the Florida Republican, obtained by CNN.

...

The panel investigated transactions Gaetz personally made, often using PayPal or Venmo, to more than a dozen women during his time in Congress, according to the report. Investigators also focused on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas – which they said “violated the House gift rule” – during which he “engaged in sexual activity” with multiple women, including one who described the trip itself as “the payment” for sex on the trip. On the same trip, he also took ecstasy, one woman on the trip told the committee.

Note:

Although the committee alleged that Gaetz violated state laws, the panel wrote that it did not find Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, writing that “although Representative Gaetz did cause the transportation of women across state lines for purposes of commercial sex, the Committee did not find evidence that any of those women were under 18 at the time of travel, nor did the Committee find sufficient evidence to conclude that the commercial sex acts were induced by force, fraud, or coercion.”

Boys will be boys! I guess we're all good then.

Since when did "transporting a miner across state lions for immoral porpoises" require the act be "induced by force, fraud, or coercion?" That's new to me but I guess Congress would have a lot more knowledge and experience than I ever would.

[Max Peck]

Their contention seems to be that the women who were trafficked across state lines were not minors, and were adults that were voluntarily engaging in hanky panky for pay, thus no harm, no foul under federal law.

[Isgrimnur]

Prostitution is a state's rights issue.

[Blackhawk]

Since when did "transporting a miner across state lions for immoral porpoises"

What coal workers do with dolphins is between them, but it's still not wise to cross a lion.

[LordMortis]

I'm so sorry. I now realize I botch the line. It was supposes be "immortal porpoises" I ruined the whole punch line.

[Holman]

Trainspotting, A-minor, "Access State Liens for Amoral Proposals" is really one of Danny Boyle's most under-rated soundtrack cuts.

[Alefroth]

I wonder if Gaetz owns any firearms.

[hepcat]

No, but as we learned a few years ago, he does rent a teenage Latino boy for public relation purposes.

[Alefroth]

I forgot about that little gem.

[hepcat]

That was….weird.

But that’s what the GOP is these days. A bunch of creepy, weird people.

[Unagi]

I forgot about that little gem.

I did too.


Man, it's serisouly weird what a political figure can 'get away with' these days.


Eat your Gary Hart out, past politicians...

[hepcat]

Matt’s show on OAN has debuted…and people are amazed at how much Botox and makeup work he’s had done.

https://bsky.app/profile/vincedmonroy.b ... sl4hksh22o

My favorite reply is the person claiming he’s turning into Odo from DS9.

[Holman]

You can accept getting older or you can target and paralyze some of the flesh on your face.

It's so weird that the latter reads as "young."