Taking a page from his idol’s playbook on crisis management, Matt Gaetz has threatened to sue any journalist who has the audacity to report on his sex scandal.
The Florida representative, one of Donald Trump’s fiercest defenders, has hired a Villanova law school graduate, and former contestant on “The Apprentice,” to do damage control as his political and legal troubles heat up.
Politico reports, “A boutique conservative consultancy group working on behalf of Rep. Matt Gaetz is threatening to sue journalists for their coverage of the embattled congressman. The entity, Logan Circle Group, is run by Harlan Hill, a former Democrat who became a top Trump surrogate during the 2016 presidential election. The official behind the recent legal threats is Erin Elmore, a colleague of Hill’s at the Washington-based consulting firm and a Season 3 contestant on ‘The Apprentice.'”
Another tactic Gaetz has borrowed from the “man-who-once-occupied-the-White-House” is to deny, deny and then deny some more. No doubt this defiant stance will appeal to the Trump base Gaetz so desperately courts. But, in the end, courts tend to have the final say!
Following reports that Gaetz was under investigation by the Department of Justice for a sexual relationship with a minor, the Trump brownnoser denied the allegations, saying he would not “be intimidated by a lying media … The truth will prevail.”
Perhaps without seeing the irony of his statement, Gaetz’s bold prediction just might come true … the truth will prevail.
The investigation into Gaetz, according to sources, began during the Trump administration, with approval from former Atty. Gen. William Barr. It is linked to the sex-trafficking indictment of former Seminole County, Fla., tax collector Joel Greenberg, who is accused of meeting women through websites that connected them with men willing to provide gifts, fine dining and travel in exchange for sex. Among those whom Greenberg is accused of trafficking is a 17-year-old girl, according to the indictment.
If Greenberg turns on Gaetz in order to save his skin, Gaetz’s bluster will be seen as pathetic as that of a former president who denied his own sex scandal.
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky” said an audacious Bill Clinton before being impeached.
As we found out with Clinton, and most likely will find out with the many lawsuits against Trump, in the end, the truth, more often than not, prevails. Oh, in case any journalist feels threatened by possible legal action from Gaetz’s hired guns, the truth is an absolute defense to any libel claim. Report away!
Photo |aljazeera.com/Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP
In other words, kill freedom of the press.
Yeah, it reminds me of that time I posed nude for art class back in college and I let one rip… and loudly too, I might add!!
I do remember once as a journalist being threatened with being sued (OK, it happened more that once, but this is the only one I want to talk about). I had reported that a defendant had failed to appear in court based on what I had gotten from court records. The defendant called me at the newspaper office, and threatened to sue me, claiming he did appear in court.
Concerned I might have made a mistake, I contacted the court clerk. She remembered the guy right off. She said he came in, talked to her about how stupid everything was, made some not-so-nice remarks, then left. So he did appear in the courthouse, but he did not appear for his time in court.
Potential lawsuit killed by the truth.
Threat of litigation can be intimidating even if right is on your side.
Gaetz just passed Ted Cruz as the most hated man in DC. Congrats Matt. You are the purveyor of GaetzGate.
You will become somebody’s bitch in jail very shortly. Maybe Donald’s with any luck.
I get what you’re saying but I still despise Raphael Cruz more!
The big difference is that Gaetz is being investigated for trafficking under age girls while Clinton was being investigated for a real estate deal and lied about a consensual relationship with an adult. They aren’t even close to the same thing.