'Strange urban legend': Matt Gaetz brushes off underage sex allegations against him
Rep. Matt Gaetz bemoaned his plight as the "most investigated man in Congress" Monday in response to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's blaming the Florida Republican, and the ethics probe into allegations Gaetz had sex with a minor, for his ouster.
Gaetz discussed McCarthy's recent claim with Jake Tapper on CNN Monday afternoon, about a month after McCarthy claimed Gaetz led the charge to remove him to stop a since-revived investigation into allegations, which he denies, that he slept with a 17-year-old he was reportedly seen with at a cocaine-fueled party.
"There's not a single human being who has publicly accused me of any wrongdoing of any kind," Gaetz said. "At what point after these things have been said about me for years and years, and not a single person has even accused me of wrongdoing, does this sort of become a strange urban legend?"
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Tapper raised the question after McCarthy, pushed out in 2023 by a group since nicknamed the "Gaetz 8," blamed his ouster on the Florida Republican without mentioning his name.
"I'll give you the truth why I'm not speaker," McCarthy said. "It's because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17 year old.
"An ethics complaint that started before I ever became speaker, and that's illegal and I'm not going to get in the middle," McCarthy said. "Did he do it or not? I don't know, but [the Ethics Committee] is looking at it. There's other people in jail because of it."
Gaetz took a sarcastic tone when faced with the video Monday.
"It's obvious from that clip, Kevin's a totally normal one, and his life is back to copacetic post being speaker," Gaetz said.
The Florida lawmaker also noted the Department of Justice concluded its probe into the allegations without choosing to bring formal sex-trafficking charges against him.
Florida tax collector and one-time close cohort Joel Greenberg was sentenced 11 years in 2022 for sex trafficking of a minor and other crimes. His arrest led to the federal investigation into Gaetz.
Gaetz said Monday he wanted McCarthy removed because he felt the former House speaker was a liar.
"My concerns with Kevin McCarthy were around his truthfulness," Gaetz said, "which by the way, he certainly didn't advance any veracity in those comments."