Looks like Matt Gaetz is finished

| 12:14 am EST February 17, 2024
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

It was widely reported that Matt Gaetz was under federal criminal investigation for alleged underage sex trafficking and a number of other alleged crimes. Even though three inside witnesses were reportedly lined up against him, Gaetz still hasn’t been charged. But then it was reported that the House Ethics Committee had taken up the investigation, at which point Gaetz sent his own Republican House into turmoil by ousting Speaker Kevin McCarthy. If Gaetz thought he’d bought himself a reprieve, it sure looks like it was only a temporary one.

Today the media reported that a witness in the probe testified to the DOJ (and the House Ethics Committee) that she was paid for “sex parties with Matt Gaetz.” The real angle here is that someone is suddenly giving this inside information to the media. That doesn’t happen at random.

The most likely explanation is that House Republicans are giving this information to the media in order to lay the groundwork for a damning House Ethics Committee report about Matt Gaetz, followed by his expulsion.

The timing of the leak makes sense. House Republicans rushed through a last ditch impeachment of DHS Secretary Alexander Mayorkas just before they lost this week’s special election to replace George Santos. It was a clear sign that they didn’t have the votes to try to impeach President Biden even with their full complement of members. Now that they’re not going to be looking to pass anything for awhile anyway, this would be the time to shove Gaetz out the back door. Because he’s in a far right district, he’d be replaced by a Republican in a special election for sure, so they’d only be losing the extra vote temporarily.

It sure would be something if House Republicans expel Matt Gaetz at a time when their majority is already so precarious. But it would serve as a reminder of just how much they all hate this guy. And this latest leak strongly points to a Gaetz ouster.

Of course expulsion could be just the beginning of Matt Gaetz’s problems. He’ll now have to worry about whether the House Ethics Committee may have uncovered witnesses or evidence that the Feds didn’t. If so, we could end up seeing a criminal referral against Gaetz, which could potentially even lead to Gaetz finally getting indicted. If Gaetz were smart he’d walk away now. But he won’t.