Anderson Cooper Battles Rep. Gaetz After He Suggests FBI ‘Cabal’: ‘That Sounds Like a Massive Conspiracy’
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has been one of President Donald Trump’s biggest defenders in the media in recent months, specifically when it comes to the Mueller investigation. He’s previously called for the special counsel to be fired while stating that there is an anti-Trump Deep State conspiracy afoot in the FBI and DOJ.
During an appearance on CNN this evening, anchor Anderson Cooper confronted Gaetz over his belief that the Mueller probe should be shut down while another special counsel should be created to look into a so-called secret society in the FBI.
After the GOP congressman stated that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should un-recuse himself from the Russia investigation so he can get Mueller to “wrap this up” so everyone can “move onto tax cuts,” Cooper noted that Mueller seems to be building “a number of cases.” Gaetz still felt it was imperative the special counsel hurry up and show the American public evidence of Trump/Russian collusion.
And then things got feisty.
Cooper noted that Trump’s newest lawyer, Joe diGenova, has pushed a theory that there is a “cabal” in the FBI and DOJ that’s trying to frame Trump, the CNN anchor asked Gaetz if he believes that is the case.
“I think we need to look into that topic,” Gaetz responded. “And the FBI and Justice Department certainly can’t investigate themselves, and that’s why I’ve joined others in calling for an independent review.”
Gaetz went on to bring up the text messages between FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, one of which referenced a “secret society.” As Cooper explained, it had been revealed a while ago that the text was almost certainly made in jest.
“You’ve got two people texting in real-time about an investigation of the president of the United States and a presidential candidate like Hillary Clinton,” the Florida lawmaker said. “So again it’s a reasonable question to wonder why people at the FBI were referencing a secret society. Why there may have not been some formal incarnation of that, you may have had the very formal cabal that he referenced working against the president.”
The CNN host again stated that it appears it was a “lighthearted remark” and wanted to know if Gaetz could acknowledge that, leading the congressman to claim it “may very well be you had an informal cabal functioning in secret.”
“That sounds like a massive conspiracy theory,” Cooper retorted.
With Gaetz continuously claiming they needed a second special counsel while getting rid of Mueller, Cooper made sure to summarize what the congressman was selling.
“So just to be clear, you want to shut down the special counsel Robert Mueller who’s investigating the president but create a new special counsel to investigate a special cabal or secret society at the highest levels of the FBI?” Cooper asked.
“Correct,” Gaetz replied.
Well, there you go.
Watch the clip above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]
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