After reviewing private correspondence between Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) and an unnamed source, the Daily Beast reports that Gaetz’s intraparty coup to remove former speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) had much more to do with the Californian’s ethics probe into Gaetz than it did with Gaetz making a principled stand for conservative policy goals — the pope is also Catholic (though that might actually be a surprise to some).
Roger Sollenberger and Reese Gorman write:
The Daily Beast reviewed these communications, but is not allowed to quote from them for fear that Gaetz would be able to identify the recipient. In fact, the source who provided the communications was so nervous about retribution that The Daily Beast isn’t allowed to say in what form the correspondence took place. Suffice to say, however, it’s clear from the communications that Gaetz’s targeting of McCarthy wasn’t borne out of his concern for reckless Washington spending.
In the communications, Gaetz singled out McCarthy individually for reviving an Ethics Committee probe against him, and he indicated that his animus toward McCarthy was over that investigation.
The beleaguered Florida congressman’s anger over the revived probe was so strong that he rode his resentment all the way to a history-making vote to remove McCarthy, steamrolling the majority of his GOP colleagues concerned that his vanity project would cause serious, long-term damage—and he did so with his signature Gaetz grin.
Other Republican congressional sources told The Daily Beast that Gaetz also acknowledged his revenge motive behind closed doors.
You can read the rest here.
Before proceeding, due diligence: With an unnamed material source, an absence of files (or even quotes) for independent review, and then several more unnamed references (“Republican congressional sources”), the journalists are asking readers to trust them a lot. That said, the namelessness might offer a pair of insights: Gaetz remains an intimidating force on Capitol Hill, and the party is incapable of doing much about him. After all, Gaetz dethroned the last guy (McCarthy) to hold him close to accountable, and the current leader, Mike Johnson, owes his position to Gaetz’s sapper works. A Republican party with an eight-seat majority is a one-legged kangaroo — just strong and coordinated enough to stand and then inadvertently launch itself sideways into a croc’s mouth.
Gaetz is no doubt an almost comically sleazy guy, and it’s easy to imagine every portion of what the Beast and the FBI alleged about Gaetz’s past relationships. But imagination and implication shouldn’t carry in court, and while Gaetz’s friend will spend some time behind bars, there wasn’t near enough to charge Gaetz, let alone convict.
Andy McCarthy helpfully summarized over a year ago the alleged Gaetz malfeasance and the ethics probe:
The Gaetz probe petered out, evidently, because it could not be established with confidence that the girl involved was a minor at the time of the most germane events — i.e., not because the allegedly salacious events never happened, but because investigators could not conclude that they could prove beyond a reasonable doubt the charge of trafficking minors. . . .
Gaetz is a flamboyant politician of the wannabe enfant terrible sort. It was not unforeseeable that he would get caught up in a sex scandal, and it was certain that, if that happened, it would become known. When it did happen, he was not a bit unhappy about the suggestion that he was quite the ladies’ man during what he describes as “my lifestyle of yesteryear.” His quarrel was with the claim that one of the ladies was 17 years old.
Gaetz brags that he did have sex with a 17-year-old, but only when he, too, was a 17-year-old. The smug self-regard is totally in character.
It’s inadvisable to trust Matt Gaetz to hold one’s wallet or let him date your sister, but it’s also true that no one seems to have the gumption to indict him for alleged crimes or publish communications in which he’s proven a liar about his motives to remove former speaker McCarthy.
Let’s see some receipts.