Matt Gaetz Obstructed Justice

So where are the charges?

If you know me, you know two things about me.

1. I’m very dedicated to equal justice under law

2. I will criticize our institutions when it’s warranted, and defend them tooth and nail otherwise

Well, I have an issue with the Department of Justice not charging Matt Gaetz with obstructing justice for tampering with a witness.

In the recent release of the Matt Gaetz report from the House Ethics committee, we learned that Matt Gaetz did not sex traffic a minor, that he most definitely raped a 17 year old, and that he obstructed justice and congress during the investigations into his alleged crimes.

He also was a john, but I personally don’t believe in prosecuting people for sex work.

From the ethics report:

From at least 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him.

• In 2017, Representative Gaetz engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl.

• During the period 2017 to 2019, Representative Gaetz used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions.

• Representative Gaetz accepted gifts, including transportation and lodging in connection with a 2018 trip to the Bahamas, in excess of permissible amounts.

• In 2018, Representative Gaetz arranged for his Chief of Staff to assist a woman with whom he engaged in sexual activity in obtaining a passport, falsely indicating to the U.S. Department of State that she was a constituent.

• Representative Gaetz knowingly and willfully sought to impede and obstruct the Committee’s investigation of his conduct.

• Representative Gaetz has acted in a manner that reflects discreditably upon the House.

Based on the report, we know that the feds did not charge Gaetz for sex trafficking a minor because there wasn’t any evidence that the 17 year old was underage when he traveled to the Bahamas. Legally fine. But still fucking gross.

I’m also miffed that the Bill Barr’s DoJ told local Florida prosecutors not to bring state charges because they were investigating, and they sat on that investigation until the Florida state statute of limitations expired for statutory rape.

We also learned that there wasn’t a federal (DoJ) case for statutory rape because you can use as a defense the fact that you didn’t know the victim’s age. You can NOT use that as a defense in Florida, but Bill Barr made sure that no charges would be brought in Florida by letting the three-year statute of limitations to expire.

So whether it was a lack of evidence, or the fact that their star witness was a complete dirtbag, or something more nefarious like Bill Barr letting Gaetz off the hook - it makes sense why Biden’s DoJ didn’t file charges for sex trafficking or statutory rape. But what doesn’t make any sense at all (aside from the fact that Florida didn’t investigate and charge Gaetz for statutory rape despite Bill Barr telling them to stand down), is why our Department of Justice didn’t charge Matt Gaetz with obstruction of justice for witness tampering or defying Congress.

To be fair, the DoJ might not have known that Matt Gaetz was obstructing Congress. As far as we know, there weren’t any criminal referrals from the House Ethics committee. So it’s fair to assume main justice didn’t have any idea Gaetz was violating Title 18 U.S.C. §1505.

But something in the ethics report that flew under most peoples’ radars is this little gem:

The Committee also reviewed allegations that Representative Gaetz may have sought to tamper with witness testimony in connection with its investigation or the DOJ’s investigation. DOJ refused to provide a copy of an audio recording in which Representative Gaetz discussed the DOJ’s inquiry with one of the women he paid for sex.

Excuse me?

The DoJ had an audio recording of Matt Gaetz discussing the federal investigation with a witness?

To be sure, we can’t know what was on that audio recording because the DoJ wouldn’t hand it over to Congress. Perhaps it didn’t rise to the level of a prosecutable crime that could reasonably result in a conviction that could be maintained on appeal.

Fine.

But what if it did? And why didn’t anyone tell us about it? I know that DoJ doesn’t discuss ongoing probes, and they most definitely don’t release things about people they don’t bring charges against (because people have the constitutional right to face their accusers and they can’t if there aren’t any charges.) And DoJ usually doesn’t share their evidence with Congress. But there’s also exceptions to those rules, and one of those exceptions is when there is a public interest, or a need to protect the safety and welfare of the public.

I’d say that a sitting member of Congress (at the time) obstructing a sex-trafficking investigation falls squarely in the public interest. You can read more about DoJ public interest here. The gist:

The Departmental regulations allow exceptions to its policy when the matter under investigation results in an indictment or some type of enforcement action. The Department can make exceptions to this policy when the issue under investigation has already received a lot of publicity, or where the community needs to be reassured that the Department is investigating the incident, or where announcing the investigation is necessary to protect the public interest, safety, or welfare. The Division follows Department policy and regulations when deciding which investigations and investigative findings to announce publicly.

This is an incredible failure of our justice department. Not to mention it took them over three months to tell the ethics committee that it wasn’t going to help them.

Shortly after DOJ withdrew its deferral request and the Committee reauthorized its review, the Committee sent DOJ a request for information. After three months without a response despite repeated follow up, the Committee submitted FOIA requests to several relevant DOJ offices, which to date have not been adequately processed.

Yes, it’s actually normal for FOIA requests to take months. For regular folks. But the House Ethics Committee? Come on.

Anyhow, if you’ve been waiting for me to dump on Garland’s Justice Department, there you go.

~AG

Please forgive any typos - I’m burning the candle at both ends these days. You can access the House Ethics report on Gaetz here.