Fogbow

The investigation, first reported by the New York Times Tuesday and confirmed by ABC News, has sent shockwaves through Republican circles, particularly among close associates of former President Donald Trump, who considered Gaetz a staunch ally and loyal friend.



One source told ABC News that federal authorities have already interviewed multiple witnesses as part of their probe.

Gaetz has reportedly told confidants he is considering retiring from Congress and possibly joining the right-wing media outlet Newsmax, according to an Axios report earlier Tuesday.

Yet within the last several weeks Gaetz started reaching out to prominent attorneys, according to one source. The source said that one of the attorneys Gaetz asked to represent him was Washington attorney Bill Burck, who represented Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus and Don McGahn during the Mueller probe.

Bob Levinson of Coral Springs died in Iranian custody, US government says
By ANTHONY MAN SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL DEC 14, 2020 AT 2:54 PM
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The Trump administration concluded that Levinson was dead months ago, but Monday was the first time it said so publicly. The administration also identified two Iranian intelligence officers they believe were responsible for his abduction. Sanctions were imposed on the Iranians, though the sanctions may have no practical effect.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican known for his fierce allegiance to former president Donald Trump, had been under Justice Department investigation for months for a possible sex crime when two men approached his father with a proposal, people familiar with the matter said.

The men had learned of the investigation, they wrote to Don Gaetz, and wanted to offer an opportunity to help his son, the people said. He could give a huge sum of money to fund their effort to locate Robert A. Levinson — the longest-held American hostage in Iran, whose family has said they were told he is dead. If the operation were a success, he would win public favor and help alleviate Matt Gaetz’s legal woes.

But Don Gaetz, a prominent Florida Republican who once led the state Senate, viewed the communication suspiciously, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe a continuing and politically sensitive probe.The investigation into Matt Gaetz’s alleged crime — he is suspected of having sex with a 17-year-old girl, as well as funding her travel — was not public knowledge. Fearing his family was being extorted, Don Gaetz contacted the FBI.

The men who approached Don Gaetz, people familiar with the matter said, had no apparent connection to the sex-crimes investigation of his son, other than having somehow learned about it before it was publicly reported.

Gaetz runs the Trump playbook for scandal: Keep talking, and talking
One thing the former president proved is that unless you're Donald Trump and sit in the White House, his strategy doesn't work as well.
Ever since the first report that he faced a Department of Justice investigation into potential trafficking of an underage girl, Rep. Matt Gaetz has channeled the former president as he tries to explain the inquiry away.
By KYLE CHENEY and MATT DIXON 03/31/2021 05:32 PM EDT

A person in serious legal jeopardy tends to, per their lawyer’s advice, shut up. Matt Gaetz is handling his current problems a little differently. Trying to deflect from the threat of a federal criminal investigation for potential trafficking of a minor, Gaetz raced to Twitter, Fox News and other outlets seeking maximum exposure — a flood-the-zone approach reminiscent of Donald Trump’s strategy for talking his way through scandal. And so the GOP congressman from Florida, to the bewilderment of legal experts, made himself unavoidable for comment as the threat to his political career began to metastasize. "My hope is that the truth will set me free, so I'm trying to get as much truth out as possible,” Gaetz, who represents a Florida panhandle district, said in an interview Wednesday.

It’s an unorthodox strategy that former prosecutors and defense attorneys described as dubious and perhaps even counterproductive, since Gaetz's interviews this week risk handing fodder to prosecutors as they build a possible trafficking case against him. But Gaetz's path, they said, is well-worn by politicians who are more concerned about the court of public opinion than the courtroom — none more visibly than the former president whose politics Gaetz has championed. “It would seem to me that he is digging himself a deeper hole,” David Weinstein, a former assistant U.S. attorney from the Southern District of Florida, said of Gaetz. “His statements yesterday seem to have given credence to the allegations, not defeated them.”

Ever since the first report that he faced a Department of Justice investigation into potential trafficking of an underage girl, Gaetz has channeled the former president as he tries to explain the inquiry away. One of Gaetz's claims is eerily similar to Trump's response to the federal probe of his ties to Russia: It's all part of a DOJ-orchestrated smear, the congressperson says, meant to silence a prominent conservative. Other Gaetz responses served as further distractions, all without definitive proof or refutation of the trafficking allegation he faces: It’s an elaborate extortion plot, he says, meant to bilk his wealthy family of millions. Oh, and DOJ once attempted to convince a previous romantic interest to pin him with a pay-for-play scandal, he adds. And by the way, Gaetz says, his dad was planning to wear a wire to catch the current extortionists, one of whom had a bizarre request related to freeing an American hostage in Iran.

Thus went the first 24 hours of Gaetz’s ongoing media blitz, which began minutes after The New York Times broke the first story about the trafficking probe. Along the way, he admitted that he’s ferried romantic interests across state lines, paying for their travel, but he insisted the young women were all of legal age and that he was simply being chivalrous. Those comments, legal experts said, run counter to the typical defense strategy of denying allegations and lay low.

MN-Skeptic wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:14 pm The part that gets me is the idea that Biden would pardon Gaetz's illegal sex with a minor girl. Certainly Trump might consider it, but Biden? Really? Nope. Not even a possibility.

sterngard friegen wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:49 am "I never traveled across state lines with a 17 year old girl" is true if she was only 16.

sterngard friegen wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:49 am "I never traveled across state lines with a 17 year old girl" is true if she was only 16.

bill_g wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:35 am Question on pronunciation of his last name: long A, or short E? Gates or Gets?

TIA

sugar magnolia wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 12:19 pm The only thing missing was letters cut out of the newspaper.