What's New
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon threw his support behind former Representative Matt Gaetz on Monday, after the House Ethics Committee released a damning report alleging that Gaetz paid multiple women, including a 17-year-old girl, for sex and engaged in drug use.
On his War Room podcast Monday, Bannon pushed Gaetz to go back to Congress next month and expose lawmakers' "sexual depravity."
Why It Matters
Gaetz resigned from Congress shortly after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for attorney general last month. But his resignation came after he was reelected to represent his district in Florida, and he and his allies have repeatedly floated the possibility of him going back to the House or running for a Florida Senate seat.
"I'm strongly urging Matt Gaetz to return to Congress, and on its first day next year, take a page from that old song, 'The Harper Valley PTA,' and expose all the hypocrites in the House [of Representatives] who have used tax money to cover up their sexual depravity," Bannon said on his podcast.
He added that the report was a "nothingburger" and that "if there was anything there, the DOJ would have come after Gaetz," referring to the Department of Justice.
He also said of Congress: "Screw their rules. Screw them. They have destroyed this country and Gaetz has to come back."
What To Know
The former Florida congressman, turned attorney general nominee, turned right-wing media host made a similar suggestion last week after the House Ethics Committee voted to release its report on Gaetz's conduct.
He wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that he would "take the oath" to serve in the next Congress and then file "a privileged motion to expose every 'me too' settlement paid using public funds (even of former members)."
Bannon on Monday said Gaetz should follow through with that threat, adding that if the former congressman moves forward with hosting a primetime show on One America News Network, it would be admitting defeat.
"God, this is so obvious," Bannon said. "Take the Ethics report and shove it up your ass. That's what I think. Gaetz must return like Trump returns. We don't back down. Double down."
Among other things, the ethics panel's report said Gaetz "regularly" paid women for sex from 2017 to 2020 and that he engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old in 2017.
It also alleged that Gaetz "used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions" between 2017 and 2019.
The former Florida lawmaker is further accused of accepting gifts exceeding the amount that members of Congress are permitted to receive, and having his chief of staff help a woman he was sexually involved with obtain a passport by falsely claiming to the State Department that she was a constituent.
Gaetz "knowingly and willfully" tried to obstruct the House Ethics Committee's investigation into his conduct, the report said, and he "acted in a manner that reflects discreditably upon the House."
Gaetz responded to the report on X after it was released on Monday.
"Giving funds to someone you are dating - that they didn't ask for - and that isn't 'charged' for sex is now prostitution?!? There is a reason they did this to me in a Christmas Eve-Eve report and not in a courtroom of any kind where I could present evidence and challenge witnesses," he wrote.
Gaetz's legal team filed a lawsuit earlier in a last-ditch effort to block the committee from releasing its report. In court filings, the former congressman's lawyers argued the House Ethics Committee didn't have jurisdiction over Gaetz since he resigned from Congress last month after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for attorney general.
Gaetz's legal team dropped the lawsuit after the ethics panel publicly distributed the report.
What People Are Saying
Joel Leppard, an attorney representing women who testified about Gaetz's conduct, said in a statement: "The House Ethics Committee's thorough investigation and detailed findings vindicate my clients' accounts and demonstrate their credibility. We appreciate the Committee's commitment to transparency in releasing this comprehensive report so the truth can be known."
Representative Michael Guest, chairman of the House Ethics Committee, dissented from the panel's decision to release the report: It "breaks from the Committee's long-standing practice, opens the Committee to undue criticism, and will be viewed by some as an attempt to weaponize the Committee's process."
Gaetz's legal team said Monday evening that he suffered serious political and reputational damage as a result of the report's release: "Due to the Defendant's unprecedented and procedurally defective decision to publicize the Report ... Plaintiff has now suffered irreversible and irreparable harm. As such, Plaintiff concurs that the instant action has been mooted and the Court now lacks subject matter jurisdiction to order the previously requested relief."
Gaetz floated the idea of running for Senate at a Turning Point event on Sunday: "It seems I may not have had enough support in the United States Senate. Maybe I'll just run for Marco Rubio's vacant seat in the United States Senate and join some of those folks."
What Comes Next
Gaetz has repeatedly and fervently denied the allegations against him.
It remains to be seen whether he will follow through with his plan to host a primetime talk show on OAN or try to shake things up in Congress as Trump takes office.
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