Matt Gaetz is about to make it a whole lot worse for himself

| 9:09 am EDT August 5, 2021
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Any decent criminal defense attorney could tell Matt Gaetz that with what’s stacked against him – multiple cooperating witnesses and a reported treasure trove of digital evidence – his only hope of escape is to mount a reasonable doubt defense at trial. This would involve him keeping quiet while his lawyers argue that the mountain of evidence, no matter how compelling the jury may find it, doesn’t add up to absolute proof.

Unfortunately for Matt Gaetz, he’s decided to do the opposite. It was one thing for him to tour the country while declaring that he’s innocent and generically accusing the whole thing of being a conspiracy against him. But now he’s decided to launch his own podcast, with the first episode coming out today. Gaetz’s tagline: “Those who attempted to smear my name will be exposed.”

This is a really dumb idea. If Matt Gaetz lays out his own version of events with regard to the allegations against him, you can bet federal prosecutors will be listening to it. And it’ll give them a chance to pick apart Gaetz’s version of events so they can head off the reasonable doubt argument his lawyers end up making to the jury. He’s only going to end up making prosecutors’s lives easier.