Matt Gaetz can’t troll his way out of this
Back when Donald Trump had control of the Department of Justice and was using it as his personal law firm, Trump’s allies and sycophants all knew the drill. If they got into federal legal trouble, they just needed to kiss Trump’s butt and parrot his political talking points, and he’d either kill the investigation or pardon them.
That was then and this is now. Trump is out of power. The DOJ doesn’t take orders from him anymore. He no longer has the ability to pardon anyone. When his pals get into legal trouble now, there’s nothing he can do to protect them. But apparently Matt Gaetz didn’t get that memo.
To give you an idea of how much trouble Matt Gaetz is in, his associate Joel Greenberg is proving to be such a valuable cooperating witness, he just had his sentencing delayed so he can make sure the judge gives him credit for everything that’s coming down the pike.
So what is Matt Gaetz doing about this? Is he hunkering down with his lawyers in the hope of carving out some sliver of reasonable doubt for when he’s inevitably arrested and put on trial? Is Gaetz trying to behave like a model citizen, so his lawyers can push for leniency if he’s convicted? No. Gaetz is trying to troll his way out of this.
Days ago, Matt Gaetz called for the January 6th Capitol attackers to be pardoned. That’s right, these folks are domestic terrorists, and he’s demanding that they go free. Now, after Gaetz’s pal Tucker Carlson got incidentally picked up on an NSA wiretap because he was communicating with known Kremlin assets in a supposed attempt at setting up an interview with Vladimir Putin, Gaetz is insisting that the Carlson-Putin interview should still happen.
Matt Gaetz appears to have truly convinced himself that he can somehow troll his way out of criminal trouble. Sorry, but that’s not how it works – not anymore, at least. Gaetz is reportedly being investigated for everything from underage sex trafficking, to prostitution, to hard drug use, to fake IDs, to improper use of campaign funds. There’s no “clever” tweet he can send that will somehow magically get him off the hook for any of it.
