Gaetz Offers Odd Message of Support to Trump by Invoking the Proud Boys: ‘Standing Back and Standing By’
(Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images)
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) joined some of his hardright House Republican colleagues on Thursday at Donald Trump’s porn star hush money trial in New York City.
Gaetz showed his support for Trump by railing the New York justice system outside the courthouse in remarks that largely echoed Trump’s daily courthouse rants to the press.
“I’m honored to be here with my colleagues from the House Freedom Caucus, where we watched Michael Cohen get dog-walked through the series of lies he is told,” Gaetz began, slamming Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer.
“There is literally no branch of government that Michael Cohen has not lied to,” Gaetz raged, adding:
He lied to investigators. He lied to the judge who sentenced him. He lied to the United States Congress, and he committed these lies for his own benefit. And while we’re talking about what we saw in that courtroom going on for people’s own benefit, we would be remiss if we did not mention this corrupt judge, this judge whose own family is making six figures off of Democrat politics that continues to gaslight the country, that there’s some sort of crime committed by President Trump. This is a made up crime. No other American in the country would be charged with this type of crime. It’s like the Mr. Potato Head doll of crimes, where they had to stick together a bunch of things that did not belong together.
Gaetz also took to X and tweeted an image of himself outside the trial with the caption, “Standing back and standing by, Mr. President.”
The caption was an apparent reference to Trump’s infamous call during the 2020 presidential election of the armed far-right militants the Proud Boys, to “stand back and standby.” The Proud Boys and other similar groups would later become central figures in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, resulting in Enrique Tarrio, the group’s one-time leader, being sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy.
