Trump loyalist may have broken congressional ethics rules, report says

Florida representative Matt Gaetz has been criticised for using racial dogwhistles and glorifying violence against left-wing protesters

Andrew Naughtie
Thursday 23 July 2020 09:37 BST
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Matt Gaetz says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants the governement to 'forcing you to eat nothing but kale and quinoa'

A Republican congressman who counts among Donald Trump’s loudest defenders is in hot water over a new investigation accusing him of potential ethics violations – including hiring a disgraced former White House aide.

According to Politico, Matt Gaetz, who represents Florida’s first congressional district, has paid large sums of taxpayer money to a private limited company linked to a former Trump administration speechwriter.

He has also had a private company install a studio in his father’s Florida home which he now uses for TV appearances. His office uses taxpayer funds to rent the camera, and the company that built the studio charges TV networks a fee each time they connect to the studio, according to the report. The company has not been identified.

Politico reported that Mr Gaetz’s office claimed both arrangements were approved by the House Ethics Committee, but declined to provide evidence to that effect.

The speechwriter, Darren Beattie, was fired from the White House in 2018 when it emerged he had spoken at a conference that has regularly hosted far-right speakers and audiences.

Mr Gaetz’s office reportedly retained Mr Beattie as a speech-writing adviser last year, but never added him to its payroll, instead paying him through the private company. This could potentially violate rules that bar lawmakers from hiring consultants without specific approval.

Since he took his seat in Congress in 2017, Mr Gaetz has cultivated a reputation for his unstinting defence of the president, delivered in a brash personal style that extends to delight in attacks on Democrats and liberals more broadly.

During the house judiciary committee’s hearings on whether or not to impeach Mr Trump, Mr Gaetz was one of several Republicans to make headlines with his vocal disdain towards both his Democratic colleagues and witnesses.

At one point, he argued that the committee should instead be focusing on Hunter Biden’s relationship with Ukrainian company Burisma, saying that “it’s a little hard to believe that Burisma hired Hunter Biden to resolve their international disputes when he could not resolve his own dispute with Hertz rental car over leaving cocaine and a crack pipe in the car.”

Democratic Georgia congressman Hank Johnson responded by suggesting that “the pot calling the kettle black” was beneath the committee’s members – implicitly pointing to Mr Gaetz’s own previous arrest for driving under the influence.

On a darker note, Mr Gaetz has also been criticised for his incendiary statements about the American left – leading Twitter to flag one of his tweets as “glorifying violence” – and for using what some observers consider racist dog whistles, including nods to the racist “replacement” theory popular among certain tendencies on the far right.

“Black Lives Matter is not about police, it’s not about race, it’s not about justice,” he wrote in a recent message. “It’s about making us hate America so they can replace America.”

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