Turns out Matt Gaetz is in deeper legal trouble than we knew

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When news first broke that there is an ongoing federal criminal investigation into Matt Gaetz, it appeared to simply be a question of whether Gaetz had sex with an underage girl. But even as we wait for the answer to that question, it’s becoming clear that the criminal probe into Gaetz is running much wider.

CNN is now reporting that the Feds are investigating whether Matt Gaetz received gifts, including paid escorts, in exchange for political influence from people involved in the medical marijuana industry. This is a big deal because if it can be proven that Gaetz had sex with paid escorts who were provided by industry lobbyists, that would make for a surefire criminal conviction at trial.

There’s a reason why federal criminal investigations tend to take such a long time: they’re conducted in the kind of broad and comprehensive manner that usually ensures the target ends up being convicted of something at trial. So even if Gaetz thinks he can beat the rap on some of the uglier things he’s being investigated for, he’s got to start worrying about going down on some of the more cut-and-dried charges he could end up facing.

When people in Matt Gaetz’s position end up cutting plea deals and flipping on bigger fish, it’s usually because they realize they’re going down on the lesser charges whether they go down on the bigger charges or not. The way this is going, Gaetz – who still insists he’s innocent of everything – may have to start thinking about cutting a plea deal against a bigger fish like Donald Trump.