Political Roundtable Part XXIX

[Zonkerbl]

Man, this Gaetz thing is way weirder than I expected. Apparently some retired air force intelligence dude found about the FBI investigation and put together a very clever extortion strategy that didn't quite cross the line into actual extortion. Apparently no relation at all to the sex trafficking investigation, except that the extortionists somehow found out about it.

I'm resigning myself to the sex trafficking investigation coming up with nothing. Maybe Gaetz isn't the monster he plays on tv.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/matt-gaetz-investigation-robert-levinson/2021/03/31/ebe2a9ba-923e-11eb-9668-89be11273c09_story.html

[Zonkerbl]

Gaetz did lie about it being possible to check his public travel records to confirm he's innocent. WaPo checked and what's publicly available for Gaetz doesn't say anything about his private travel. It's probably still true that once you subpoena the records from the appropriate people they'll corroborate what Gaetz is saying, I don't think Gaetz is that dumb. Right now I'm thinking it is actually more likely he's being persecuted by overzealous FBI folks. But I'm still waiting to hear about the 17 year old in question - did Gaetz know how old she was? And why is a 35+ man going out with women that young? Gross.

[Pointgod]

not a single thing of consequence will come from this Gaetz story. that's an indictment on both R's and D's.

Well Dems can’t really kick him out of House Leadership or remove him from committees. And the Justice Department needs to be given time to investigate. If Gaetz didn’t actually commit a crime then there’s really nothing you can go off of.

This seems wrong. Didn't the dems kick MTG off all her committees? Why couldn't they do the same to MG?

Yes you’re correct my mistake then can kick Gaetz off committees but it they can’t remove him from House Leadership. But it would be insane to take him off a committee without letting the investigation finish

[pancakes3]

i'm not willing to give gaetz the benefit of the doubt because (1) his track history of being a pathological liar about everything else; and (2) his defense is "i didn't do it but even if i did someone is already extorting me for it so let's focus on that"

[Ruzious]

Man, this Gaetz thing is way weirder than I expected. Apparently some retired air force intelligence dude found about the FBI investigation and put together a very clever extortion strategy that didn't quite cross the line into actual extortion. Apparently no relation at all to the sex trafficking investigation, except that the extortionists somehow found out about it.

I'm resigning myself to the sex trafficking investigation coming up with nothing. Maybe Gaetz isn't the monster he plays on tv.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/matt-gaetz-investigation-robert-levinson/2021/03/31/ebe2a9ba-923e-11eb-9668-89be11273c09_story.html

At one point in the interview, he said the 17 year old didn't exist, at another point she did exist and he just wasn't having sex with her - just paying for her travel to be with him on the road (yeah, that sounds believable), at another point Gaetz seemed to be saying that good ol Tuck had dinner with her and Gaetz (and Tuck couldn't wait to get out of any implications there basically saying I don't wtf you're talking about). Soooo, I kinda think Gaetz just might be lying.

And... Gaetz' face looks like it was a model for some of the characters on Squidbillies.

[Zonkerbl]

Just preparing myself for the worst.

It is hilarious to hear various GOP folks saying "yeah everybody knew not to be photographed with Gaetz because the scandal was inevitable."

[Ruzious]

Just preparing myself for the worst.

It is hilarious to hear various GOP folks saying "yeah everybody knew not to be photographed with Gaetz because the scandal was inevitable."

Gaetz is getting advice from Jussie Smollet on how to diffuse the situation.

[I_Like_Dirt]

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Ironic how clear it's becoming that the Q folks were focusing on the wrong party
when it comes to pedophiles. Not that either party is completely free of
ne'er do wells.

The catch is what they were actually trying to achieve. It was never actually about pedophiles and still isn't. In that sense they got the "right" party for what they hoped to achieve. They're turning the term pedophile into a blunt branding tool and stripping it of any other meaning, much as has happened with terms like racist, sexist, nazi, antifa, etc. Just brand them with negative connotations and get them to stick to people you don't like while ignoring the underlying problems entirely.

Sent from my SM-G970W using RealGM mobile app

[Pointgod]

Absolute **** scumbag. What a piece of ****. Well now he’s going to have to lawyer up. Republicans keep taking **** L’s

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[Wizardspride]

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[Wizardspride]

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[Ruzious]

Absolute **** scumbag. What a piece of ****. Well now he’s going to have to lawyer up. Republicans keep taking **** L’s

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Carlson was very wise to quickly distance him in their interview and avoid any implications.

He's probably planning to watch Gaetz' next interview with a tub of popcorn.

[Wizardspride]

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[Ruzious]

Gaetz' communications director/press secretary just resigned without explanation. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/02/us/matt-gaetz-spokesman-quits.html

[verbal8]

Gaetz' communications director/press secretary just resigned without explanation. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/02/us/matt-gaetz-spokesman-quits.html

I think the explanation is pretty clear.

[Ruzious]

Man, this Gaetz thing is way weirder than I expected. Apparently some retired air force intelligence dude found about the FBI investigation and put together a very clever extortion strategy that didn't quite cross the line into actual extortion. Apparently no relation at all to the sex trafficking investigation, except that the extortionists somehow found out about it.

I'm resigning myself to the sex trafficking investigation coming up with nothing. Maybe Gaetz isn't the monster he plays on tv.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/matt-gaetz-investigation-robert-levinson/2021/03/31/ebe2a9ba-923e-11eb-9668-89be11273c09_story.html

I'm still not getting his claim that he was being extorted. It sounds like the alleged bribe was an offer to help him out of his legal problems in exchange for cash - which would be a bribe offer - but not extortion because there was no alleged threat. Nowhere was there an allegation that the briber was threatening to expose him or do anything else to him if he didn't ante up.

[pancakes3]

it's not even bribery. bribery is offering money/things in exchange for a person in power to use that power that is aligned with the bribe offeror's interests. plus, Gaetz the younger wasn't even the one being solicited so it's even further removed from bribery.

like if they said "we'll make it go away but you vote this way for [bill]" yes, bribery. saying "we'll make this go away but you give us money" then that's just solicitation. solicitation is only a crime when the thing being solicited is also a crime.

none of the bribery/solicitation stuff makes sense, but it's clearly a smoke screen. the hard facts are that there is reasonable suspicion (evidenced by the FBI investigation) that Gaetz paid women for sex (crime), paid them with drugs (crime), made the women cross state lines to perform sex (crime), and at least one of the women was underaged (crime).

[Wizardspride]

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[Ruzious]

it's not even bribery. bribery is offering money/things in exchange for a person in power to use that power that is aligned with the bribe offeror's interests. plus, Gaetz the younger wasn't even the one being solicited so it's even further removed from bribery.

like if they said "we'll make it go away but you vote this way for [bill]" yes, bribery. saying "we'll make this go away but you give us money" then that's just solicitation. solicitation is only a crime when the thing being solicited is also a crime.

none of the bribery/solicitation stuff makes sense, but it's clearly a smoke screen. the hard facts are that there is reasonable suspicion (evidenced by the FBI investigation) that Gaetz paid women for sex (crime), paid them with drugs (crime), made the women cross state lines to perform sex (crime), and at least one of the women was underaged (crime).

And in any case, he hasn't successfully shown how he's a victim in the case.

Oh, and note to Gaetz - no worries if you're concerned the investigation will be dropped - Merrick Garland will make sure you get everything you deserve.

[verbal8]

it's not even bribery. bribery is offering money/things in exchange for a person in power to use that power that is aligned with the bribe offeror's interests. plus, Gaetz the younger wasn't even the one being solicited so it's even further removed from bribery.

like if they said "we'll make it go away but you vote this way for [bill]" yes, bribery. saying "we'll make this go away but you give us money" then that's just solicitation. solicitation is only a crime when the thing being solicited is also a crime.

none of the bribery/solicitation stuff makes sense, but it's clearly a smoke screen. the hard facts are that there is reasonable suspicion (evidenced by the FBI investigation) that Gaetz paid women for sex (crime), paid them with drugs (crime), made the women cross state lines to perform sex (crime), and at least one of the women was underaged (crime).

And in any case, he hasn't successfully shown how he's a victim in the case.

Oh, and note to Gaetz - no worries if you're concerned the investigation will be dropped - Merrick Garland will make sure you get everything you deserve.

It just seems to be getting worse and worse for Gaetz and potentially the GOP more broadly. The latest seems to be the use of campaign funds in Gaetz's wrongdoing.