Matt Gaetz’s bizarre stunt today made things even worse for him
This morning we predicted that as this week went on, things would get particularly ugly for Matt Gaetz. Even if his arrest and indictment aren’t imminent, the now-public nature of his scandal means that more people will come forward with what they know, and the headlines will just keep getting worse.
It turns out Gaetz is the one who is making things worse for himself. Last night a press release was sent out announcing that a former Gaetz staffer would be speaking to the media today about the scandal. The first hint that something wasn’t quite right: the press release used Gaetz’s letterhead, meaning he was behind the whole thing.
Sure enough, the former Gaetz staffer simply spent his press conference acknowledging that he’d been questioned about Gaetz by the FBI, while insisting that he’s never seen Gaetz do anything wrong. So what was the point of this? Gaetz has apparently decided to try to railroad the DOJ investigation by taking witnesses from the probe who are favorable to him, and having them speak publicly.
This isn’t going to work, obviously. No one is going to say “Well, I thought that Matt Gaetz fellow might be guilty, but now that one former staffer says he never saw Gaetz do anything wrong, Gaetz must be the real victim here.” On the other hand, Gaetz is coming close to obstructing the investigation. If he keeps it up, it’s probably the one thing that could prompt the Feds to arrest him quicker than they were originally planning. Gaetz is facing a mess, and he’s making it even worse for himself.
