Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is the subject of a Justice Department probe looking into his alleged relationship with an underage girl, and the Internet is wondering how QAnon missed it.
Gaetz supported the insurrection at the Capitol in January and voted to overturn the election results that sent his buddy, disgraced former President Donald Trump, packing back to Mar-a-Lago. He has also repeatedly attacked Democrats and has accused them of fake scandals even though he himself has been involved in several real scandals recently.
Now Gaetz is being investigated for sex trafficking, a crime that could put him behind bars and put an end to his time as a congressman.
According to the New York Times:
Investigators are examining whether Mr. Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, the people said. A variety of federal statutes make it illegal to induce someone under 18 to travel over state lines to engage in sex in exchange for money or something of value. The Justice Department regularly prosecutes such cases, and offenders often receive severe sentences. It was not clear how Mr. Gaetz met the girl, believed to be 17 at the time of encounters about two years ago that investigators are scrutinizing, according to two of the people.
The three people said that the examination of Mr. Gaetz, 38, is part of a broader investigation into a political ally of his, a local official in Florida named Joel Greenberg, who was indicted last summer on an array of charges, including sex trafficking of a child and financially supporting people in exchange for sex, at least one of whom was an underage girl. Mr. Greenberg, who has since resigned his post as tax collector in Seminole County, north of Orlando, visited the White House with Mr. Gaetz in 2019, according to a photograph that Mr. Greenberg posted on Twitter.
No charges have been brought against Mr. Gaetz, and the extent of his criminal exposure is unclear. Mr. Gaetz said in an interview that his lawyers had been in touch with the Justice Department and that they were told he was the subject, not the target, of an investigation.
Given that Republicans have falsely accused Democrats of being child sex traffickers, Twitter users were quick to mock Gaetz and alert QAnon.
Very surprised that Matt Gaetz, who has a history of defending sexual predators, is a sexual predator.
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) March 30, 2021
I’m sorry.
I said that Matt Gaetz couldn’t get any worse than 7 DUI’s, sleeping w/ interns for points, being the sole NO vote on a human sex trafficking bill and threatening a witness but clearly I was wrong.. pic.twitter.com/6Bsvs6OXra— Brown Eyed Susan (@smc429) March 30, 2021
“Gaetz cast the lone ‘no’ vote on a widely bipartisan human trafficking bill that passed unanimously through the U.S. Senate in September [2017] before sailing through the House by a count of 418 to 1.” #PizzaGaetz https://t.co/Ey92aiGZhb
— shauna (@goldengateblond) March 30, 2021
well this suddenly makes sense. pic.twitter.com/gdK7SqUwA6
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) March 30, 2021
Spare a thought tonight for the QAnon conspiracists who claimed to hunt pedophiles and sex traffickers but then supported Matt Gaetz
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) March 30, 2021
Let’s also not forget that Gaetz sent a creepy tweet to Trump’s daughter Tiffany.
Perhaps Gaetz will be reunited with the orange jumpsuit he wore after being arrested for drunk driving. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy.
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