Trump, a Florida Man Under Federal Investigation, Endorses Gaetz, a Florida Man Under Federal Investigation
Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images
Birds of a feather flock together — does that apply to potential future jailbirds as well? Your friendly neighborhood Mediaite contributing editor offers no prognostications on that issue, but this weekend former President Donald Trump endorsed his fellow Florida Man and federal investigation target, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), in his re-election bid.
It wasn’t really a surprising announcement — Gaetz has been one of the ex-president’s loudest cheerleaders among the GOP congressional delegation — and the congressman is all-but-guaranteed to win another term. Florida’s 1st congressional district is one of the deepest red in the state, voting in 2020 for Trump 65.7% to Joe Biden’s 32.3%, and Cook Political Report gave it a partisan voter index score of R+20 this year.
Gaetz does have two Republican challengers in Florida’s primary election Aug. 23, Mark Lombardo and Greg Merk, but he swamps them in name recognition and fundraising. Federal Election Commission reports show Gaetz has raised nearly $5.7 million compared to Lombardo’s less than $800,000 and Merk’s $11,000.
Still, Lombardo may have gotten under Trump’s skin with a recent ad needling his opponent for not yet locking down an endorsement from the former president or Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and speculating that Gaetz might have been the FBI informant that triggered the recent execution of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago.
“Trump or DeSantis have not endorsed Matt Gaetz,” Lombardo said an Aug. 9 interview with Insider. “Have they in the past? Yes. Have they now? The answer is no. And the reason for that is that they can’t afford the branding issue. The branding issue of being associated with a pedophile.”
The Department of Justice and House Ethics committee are investigating Gaetz regarding allegations that he was involved in paying a 17-year-old girl to travel across state lines for sex, part of a sprawling scandal tied to a former Central Florida tax collector and Gaetz pal, Joel Greenberg.
Greenberg pled guilty in May 2021 to sex trafficking of a child, production of a false identification document, aggravated identity theft, stalking, wire fraud, and conspiracy to bribe a public official. His sentencing has been repeatedly delayed, reportedly because he is continuing to provide federal investigators with useful information. Gaetz has repeatedly and vehemently denied any wrongdoing, but his name continues to pop up in in the chatter surrounding the case.
No stranger to scandal himself and currently facing his own federal investigation issues in the aftermath of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, Trump gave Gaetz his official stamp of approval in a post on his Truth Social account, the social media platform he launched after being permabanned from Twitter.
Screenshot via Truth Social.
Gaetz “puts America First, and he has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump wrote, calling him “a relentless Fighter for the incredible people of Florida’s 1st Congressional District” and “a Champion of our MAGA Agenda, who tirelessly works to Drain the Swamp, Secure the Border, Support our Brave Veterans and Law Enforcement, Defend the Second Amendment, Stand Up to the Woke Mob, and Fight the Never-Ending Witch Hunts from the Radical Left that are destroying our Country!”
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
