According to breaking new reporting from the Washington Post this afternoon, scandal-ridden Florida Republican congressman and MAGA sycophant Matt Gaetz apparently all but begged the now-former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to appeal to then-president Donald Trump on his behalf for a “pre-emptive” pardon, just shortly after the lawmaker learned that he was the subject of a Justice Department investigation relating to credible allegations of sex-trafficking lodged against him.
The bombshell new WaPo report cites testimony that was recently delivered to the January 6th House Select Committee by former Trump adviser Johnny McEntee as part of their investigation into the deadly Capitol attack and Donald Trump’s specific role in inciting the fatal violence. According to the report, McEntee made mention of Gaetz’s pardon appeal when speaking to the J6 House Panel.
The former Trump advisor told the House Select Committee, according to the Post’s report, “Gaetz told him during a brief meeting ‘that they are launching an investigation into him or that there’s an investigation into him,’ without specifying who was investigating Gaetz.”
WaPo notes that the congressman was specifically seeking out Mark Meadows’ help in securing the pre-emptive pardon to hopefully save him from the repercussions of his alleged illegal sexual trysts.
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The Post reports on the matter:
McEntee added that Gaetz told him ‘he did not do anything wrong but they are trying to make his life hell, and you know, if the president could give him a pardon, that would be great.’ Gaetz told McEntee that he had asked White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for a pardon. Asked by investigators if Gaetz’s ask for a pardon was in the context of the Justice Department investigation into whether Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, McEntee replied, ‘I think that was the context, yes,’ according to people familiar with the testimony who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.”
I certainly can’t say I’m not curious as to why Trump didn’t pony up the pardon…
Read the full Washington Post report on the news here.
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
