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Well, we guess one of Donald Trump‘s cabinet picks was finally deemed to be going too far.
In what felt like a parody of his own corruption, the President-Elect chose Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General. You know, the guy who was, in the past couple years, under investigation for UNDERAGE SEX TRAFFICKING! Gaetz allegedly attended drug-fueled orgies with other Florida politicians and paid multiple young women for sex, at least one of whom was just a minor at the time — at 17 years old! Disgusting.
Reminder, this guy was nearly 40 years old at the time. Oof.
Related: Trump Was Accused Of Raping A 13-Year-Old Girl With Jeffrey Epstein
The Department of Justice, which he’d hoped to lead, ultimately chose not to prosecute Gaetz. It’s unclear why considering his pal (and alleged pimp?) Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty. Maybe they felt uncomfortable charging a sitting member of Congress? Remember, this was in the Biden years. It’s possible after all of Trump’s complaints of WITCH HUNTS and weaponization of the legal system, they wanted to avoid even the whiff of impropriety in charging a political rival? They certainly dragged their feet on Trump’s prosecution long enough that he was able to slip out of it by running for president again.
But there are some standards for being in Congress. So the House Ethics Committee picked up where the DOJ left off and have been doing their own investigation for months. Then he got picked for AG and resigned… literally hours before the Committee was going to release the report, by some accounts.
There’s been a very public row the last week over whether they should release it anyway, despite him no longer being a member of Congress. Marjorie Taylor Greene fought it, even threatening to release sexual misconduct reports being hidden about other Republicans. So… there are sexual misconduct reports being hidden about other Republicans?? Sheesh…
Frankly it seems to us it’s a no-brainer to just be transparent with all of it. After all, his constituents deserve to know, the American public deserve to know — especially if he’s about to be put in charge of the USA’s criminal justice system OHGODWHATAREWEDOING…
Well… It turns out we’re not going to have an alleged teen sex trafficker as AG. On Thursday Gaetz withdrew his nomination! He tweeted:
“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1. I remain fully committed to see that Donald J. Trump is the most successful President in history. I will forever be honored that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I’m certain he will Save America.”
I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance…
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) November 21, 2024
UNFAIRLY. Of course that’s the framing. It’s all just a big smear campaign, right? Except… He’s been saying that for years. What changed?
The amount of evidence being made public that proves he’s full of crap, that’s what! Multiple reports over the past 24 hours seem to have convinced him to duck and cover!
The Committee may have voted not to release their report (with every single Republican voting to protect him by keeping it secret), but guess what? When everyone you work with detests you, on both sides of the aisle, stuff has a way of leaking out!
The New York Times and ABC News both got hold of documents apparently prepared by the Ethics Committee from data investigated by the Justice Department. And it’s SO gross.
There’s been a ton of evidence in the public eye for years now, including proof he made Venmo payments to teen girls. You know, because there’s an electronic paper trail. It’s Venmo. Brazen stuff. But the graphic showing how many payments Gaetz made to young women and to Greenberg, who then made TONS of payments to these girls… well, it’s staggering:
Yikes.
Here is the web of Venmo transactions between Matt Gaetz, his associates, and women. That's Matt waaaay up there in the upper left.
This was from the 3-year Fed investigation which the Ethics committee received.
And yes, someone leaked it.https://t.co/HG35tvIvLD pic.twitter.com/xPotIF4Upd
— TrumpsTaxes (@trumpstaxes.bsky.social) (@TrumpsTaxes) November 21, 2024
But that’s not all.
Because Venmo data was just out there, they could also see what Gaetz wrote in the Notes section explaining what the money is for. In payments to girls he wrote he was paying them:
$200 — “Just because”
$250 — “Being my friend”
$400 — “Being awesome”
$400 — “flight + extra 4 u”
A couple times it’s just an emoji like “HUG” or “GIFT.”
Look, y’all, we don’t know what else to say. If this grown ass man sending money to young women for “being awesome” — in addition to testimony we’ve already seen of escorts corroborating that they saw him having sex with a 17-year-old — doesn’t give you full body shudders, and you still want this man in a position of power to “own the libs”? We’re going to have to consider your gross ass an accessory. ICK!
Anyway, Trump replaced Gaetz with Pam Bondi, who has been Florida’s AG after spending years as a prosecutor. Instead of, you know, a suspect. So that’s good at least.
[Image via MEGA/WENN.]
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