The Tangled Life Of Matt Gaetz

In Donald Trump's final hours as president, he issued a lot of pardons. Not on the list? Matt Gaetz, even though The New York Times reported they'd learned Gaetz had approached Trump aides to request a blanket, preemptive pardon be put in place for anything he might be found guilty of in the future. Sources reported that he had also asked for pardons for two unidentified associates, and what's apparently not clear is whether or not Gaetz already knew that representatives of the Justice Department were already asking questions about allegations that he had been in a sexual relationship with a minor.

Trump himself later declared that "Congressman Matt Gaetz has never asked me for a pardon." Still, sources in-the-know say that the request just didn't get that far, and before it even got to Trump, it was decided that handing out preemptive pardons would be a dangerous precedent to set.

Gaetz's supporters didn't deny that he had talked about a pardon but went on to claim that it was all a big misunderstanding that stemmed from comments he made on Fox News just after Joe Biden took the presidential election. Gaetz was quoted as saying (via ABC News) that they were facing "a bloodlust that will only be quenched if they come after the people who worked so hard to animate the Trump administration," and that he advised Trump to pardon "everyone from himself to his administration officials to Joe Exotic if he has to."

Even as the Justice Department started an inquiry into claims that Matt Gaetz had been involved in the perpetration of certain sex crimes, his father (former Florida state Senator Don Gaetz, pictured) was reportedly approached with a proposition: Finance the rescue mission of Iranian-held American hostage Robert A. Levinson, and his son's legal worries would go away. It didn't take long for him to go public with both the request and the name of the person who made it, which The Washington Post says kind of had two effects: Not only did it blow the extortion racket, but it shifted at least part of the focus away from the initial investigation.

The elder Gaetz produced evidence in the form of text messages, and a few months later it was announced that Stephen Alford, a Florida businessman, was in court to enter a guilty plea to an attempt to extort the Gaetz family of $25 million. Interestingly, Matt Gaetz then claimed there was much more to the story than was being reported, saying, "Alford wasn't acting alone. DOJ is having him take the fall to protect their own." 

Just after the whole thing went public, he initially claimed that the investigation into him was a "planted leak" to cover up the extortion. Alford was ultimately sentenced to five years and three months in prison.

No matter how good a relationship might seem, there's always the chance it'll go very, very sideways. That's led to revenge porn — the online sharing of nude photos without the consent of the person in the photos. Back in 2013, the government started working on passing legislation that would make posting revenge porn illegal. Seems like a no-brainer that would get bipartisan support, right? Not exactly.

In 2021, The Washington Post spoke with former Florida state House Republican Tom Goodson. He spearheaded the anti-revenge porn bill and said he had one major opponent: Matt Gaetz. "Matt was absolutely against it," Goodson shared. "He thought the picture was his to do with what he wanted. He thought that any picture was his to use as he wanted to, as an expression of his right." The bill passed, with Gaetz's "no" vote being one of just two against.

Also in 2021, CNN reported that multiple sources had told them that Gaetz was well-known not only for "bragging about his sexual escapades," but sharing "photos and videos of nude women he said he had slept with." Sources were able to describe in detail the contents of the alleged images and claimed that he had even gone as far as to play the videos while on the floor of the House. Gaetz's behavior reportedly warranted a meeting with then-Speaker Paul Ryan, although Gaetz denied such a meeting ever took place.

Way back in 2017, Matt Gaetz modestly referred to himself as "the least interesting member of the freshman class." With his far-right leanings and accusations of illegal behavior still to unfold, it's only in hindsight that it becomes surprising that when he first got to the House of Representatives, he painted himself as — among other things — the animal rights guy.

"My mother raised my sister and I to believe you can judge any person by how they treat innocent and defenseless animals, so we've always had rescue pets in our home growing up," he explained to Roll Call. At the time, he had three rescues — two dogs and a cat — and his work with animal rights groups earned him the Humane Society's endorsement.

Since his election to the House, Gaetz has championed multiple pieces of legislation put forward to extend protections afforded to animals, including the Democratic-led bill to limit sources for research animals, prohibitions on funding sources for animal testing, and he's also been one of the loudest voices speaking out against greyhound racing. In 2019, he was one of a handful of lawmakers who appeared at an event promoting the adoption of ex-racing greyhounds, telling The Palm Beach Post that the industry's days were numbered: "We won. Greyhound racing is done. If the owners aren't willing to cooperate, they may face animal cruelty charges. We will utilize the carrot, or they will face the stick."

It's no secret that Matt Gaetz is one of Donald Trump's biggest supporters: He did, after all, push a 2018 petition to see Trump awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. So, it's not entirely surprising that when Trump's former personal attorney appeared to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Gaetz showed up in spite of definitely being not invited. More surprising is that he sent an ill-advised tweet that was deemed to be so far out of line that CNBC reported it could lead to him facing an investigation by the House Ethics Committee for "witness intimidation and tampering."

The tweet read: "Hey @MichaelCohen212 — Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she'll remain faithful when you're in prison. She's about to learn a lot..."

Gaetz claimed that he was "witness testing, not witness tampering," and according to Vanity Fair, he went on to say first that it was fine that he stepped up to "challenge the truthfulness, veracity, and character of people who have a history of lying," and when Gaetz to issued an apology, he also lauding himself for crossing a line to defend his Trump in what he called "a sign of valor." It was later reported that Gaetz would not face disciplinary action for the tweet, and instead got a strongly-worded warning letter from the Florida Bar.

Before getting to the meat of the story, Vanity Fair reminded readers that yes, this was the same Matt Gaetz who was under investigation for paying for sex. It was this Matt Gaetz who spoke at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa, and not only made a series of shockingly misogynistic comments, but when he was given the chance to backpedal, doubled down and responded, "Be offended."

He said: "Why is it that the women with the least likelihood of getting pregnant are the ones most worried about having abortions? Nobody wants to impregnate you if you look like a thumb. ... They're like, 5'2, 350 pounds, and they're like, 'give me my abortions or I'll get up and march and protest,' and I'm thinking, 'March? You look like you got ankles weaker than the legal reasoning behind Roe vs. Wade.' A few of them need to get up and march."

That went over about as well as can be expected, but it also had an impact that Gaetz probably didn't expect. Olivia Julianna is a political strategy specialist with Gen Z for Change, and thanked Gaetz for his remarks (while adding, "I'm actually 5'11. 6'4 in heels. I wear them so the small men like you are reminded of your place"), noting (via NPR) that after his comments, her organization received around $700,000 in donations, which would be distributed to abortion services nationwide.

In 2019, Matt Gaetz participated in a congressional hearing addressing gun violence and House Resolution 8 — legislation that would have tightened background checks on gun sales. During the hearing, Gaetz argued (via ABC News), "I hope we do not forget the pain and anguish and sense of loss felt by those all over the country who have been the victims of violence at the hands of illegal aliens. [HR 8] would not have stopped the many of the circumstances I raised. But a wall, a barrier on the southern border, may have."

The comments provoked outrage from the assembled gallery, which included Fred Guttenberg and Manuel Oliver. Both lost children in the Parkland shooting: Guttenberg's 14-year-old daughter was killed, as was Oliver's 17-year-old son. The gallery was warned after Gaetz's attempt at having the two parents removed from the room, and he later told reporters that it didn't really matter that they'd lost children to gun violence, he found their interruptions unacceptable.

Committee chair Jerry Nadler — who had refused Gaetz's request to kick the parents out of the meeting, told CNN, "To bring up, in a room full of parents of kids killed, Trump's border wall, which has nothing to do with this, is frankly insulting." That was a sentiment echoed by an anonymous committee member whose words — "Oh, Jesus Christ!" — were caught on a mic during Gaetz's comments.

Roll Call keeps track of all kinds of data, including the family status of various politicians. According to their 2019 data, Matt Gaetz was described by his own office as being single with no children, but that changed in a big way just a year later. Gaetz tweeted (via CBS News) that the big reveal that he had been raising a non-biological son for years was kick-started "when (to make an absurd debate point) a fellow congressman diminished the contributions of Republicans because we don't raise non-white kids."

The exchange was with Louisiana's Cedric Richmond, who was speaking to the worries specific to the Black community. Gaetz stepped up to say that he, too, actually had the same worries with an introduction to the man he referred to as his son, then-19-year-old Nestor Galban. A Cuban immigrant, Galban was the younger brother of Gaetz's ex-girlfriend, and when their mother passed away after being diagnosed with breast cancer, Galban lived with the couple. According to what Gaetz told People, "[he is] my son in every conceivable way, and I can't imagine loving him any more if he was my own flesh and blood."

While some of Gaetz's fellow congress members came forward to confirm that he'd always spoken about Galban behind-the-scenes, others weren't convinced. Critics accused him of using Galban as a political crutch, pointing to earlier social media posts where he alternately referred to the teenager as a "helper," a "local student," his "best door-knocker," and "House page."

In 2020, Twitter faced off against Donald Trump by adding fact-checking and warning labels to his tweets, flagging them as incorrect and/or going against their policies about posts that incited violence. According to The New York Times, they hit Matt Gaetz with a warning, too, after he posted, "Now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East?" That not only got him the anti-violence warning, but it gave him a chance to repost tweets from Trump, talking about limiting the power of tech companies to censor what appeared on their platform.

Gaetz said that the Twitter warning was his "badge of honor," and it's not the only time he's been pretty vocal about what he thinks about protests. In November 2021, the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse was winding down. (Spurred on by protests following the shooting of Jacob Blake, Rittenhouse crossed state lines, joined the protests, then shot and killed two people and injured a third. He was ultimately cleared of all charges.) 

Just prior to the announcement of the verdict, Gaetz addressed the case on Newsmax (via NBC News). He said, "You know what, Kyle Rittenhouse would probably make a good congressional intern. We may reach out to him and see if he'd be interested in helping the country in additional ways. ... He is not guilty. He deserves a not guilty verdict and I sure hope he gets it." 

When Slate spoke with Matt Gaetz about his opposition to a 2015 amendment that would have given faith-based organizations the right to deny adoptions to couples that didn't subscribe to their code of morality, Gaetz described it as "a big, wide, slippery slope." He added that he was particularly in favor of supporting adoptions by same-sex couples, adding "...there have been absolutely no indications that same-sex adoptions or same-sex foster care placement have had any negative effects on children."

That's a seemingly straightforward position to take, but in 2022, it developed into something weird. That's when Gaetz spoke at a hearing called "What's Next: The Threat to Individual Freedoms in a Post-Roe World." The American Independent summed up his position as one in which he claimed affording abortion access to lesbian and bisexual women would — in his words — "actually result in fewer same-sex couples having access to the family formation that gives them fulfilled lives."

The legal director of the Human Rights Campaign, Sarah Warbelow, replied there were other ways that children came up for adoption, adding: "What I would be concerned about is forcing women to carry a pregnancy simply to satisfy another couple's desire to have a child." It's also worth noting that in his 2015 interview, Gaetz spoke of the "852 adoptable children in the state's foster care system, ... [and] There are thousands and thousands more children [in foster homes]. I don't want there to be any barriers to those children having loving, permanent homes."