We're not legal experts and we're certainly not public relations scholars, but it seems like sharing a document that contains the phrase "involved in a sexual orgy of underage prostitutes" is a bad look for a congressman facing sex trafficking allegations.
But that's exactly what Florida representative Matt Gaetz did last night. The troubled Congressman put the spotlight on a tweet from Emily Brooks, a reporter for the conservative publication The Washington Examiner. In the tweet, Brooks claims to have inside information on "Project Homecoming," an alleged name for the investigation into Gaetz. She shares an unverified document laying out the particulars of Gaetz's case and a cropped text she claims came from a DOJ employee attempting to extort Gaetz's family.
The document makes reference to Gaetz and an unnamed Floridian official, purportedly captured taking part in an orgy with underage sex workers. This likely connects to the unprompted revelation of such photos that Gaetz shared during his deeply weird interview with Tucker Carlson shortly after the news broke.
The tweet came after the New York Times shared a report claiming Gaetz sought blanket, preemptive pardons for potential crimes from the Trump administration before Donald Trump left office. The Times' unnamed sources said the request didn't get far, with Trump lawyers and aides viewing a pardon before-the-fact as a bad precedent.
The initial allegation against Gaetz, that he may have enticed a 17-year-old across state lines for the purposes of sex, gets more plausible by the day. Politico shared that three anonymous sources, including one who testified to a grand jury, say that Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg bragged about having sex with a then 17-year-old who became an adult actress. The Times has reported that the same minor is at the root of investigations into both men.
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) April 7, 2021
This article first appeared at our sibling publication Orlando Weekly.
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This article appears in Apr 1-7, 2021.