Former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s reputation and political prospects may take a nosedive in the wake of the release of the House Ethics Committee report, but several MAGA figures are backing the Florida Republican.
On his “War Room” podcast, hours after the report’s release Monday, Steve Bannon, a former Trump White House aide, dismissed the report as a “nothingburger” and urged Gaetz to return to Congress.
“Take the ethics report and put it in your… That’s what I think,” Bannon said. “Gaetz must return as Trump returned. Don’t go backwards, double down.”
The committee said in its report that it found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz had violated House rules, as well as state and federal laws, while serving in Congress, including that he “regularly” paid women for sex and bought or purchased illegal drugs possessions, including cocaine and ecstasy. Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and noted that a separate Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations ended without charges.
Gaetz has said he will not run in the next Congress in January despite winning re-election in November, and will soon host a political talk show on One America News Network. At a Turning Point USA convention last weekend, he declared his candidacy for governor of Florida or for Senator Marco Rubio’s seat in the U.S. Senate.
While much of the MAGA world was outraged by the committee’s findings and its decision to release a report on a former member, others have criticized the committee’s findings and its potential impact on the political future of Gaetz downplayed.
Florida State’s Juan Porras praised Gaetz on
“I stand behind him and hope he will continue his public service in the future,” he wrote.
Florida Sen. Joe Gruters, who is backed by President-elect Donald Trump as treasurer of the Republican National Committee, told Politico that the release of the report was an “attempt to harm [Gaetz’s] reputation of people with personal or political grievances against him.” Gaetz, he said, “still has a bright future in elected office, or whatever other path he chooses.”
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
