“I told him I’m not trying to extort, but if this were true, he might be interested in doing something good,” Mr. Kent mentioned.
For now, Gaetz doesn’t look like going anyplace.
Mr. Gaetz informed The Times in an interview this week that he had no plans to resign from Congress. But because the investigation continues, he might face strain both to step down or quickly relinquish his spot on the House committee that oversees the Justice Department.
“He should not be sitting on a Congressional Committee with oversight over the DOJ while the Department is investigating him,” Representative Ted Lieu, Democrat of California, wrote on Twitter.
Few Republicans have stood up for Mr. Gaetz, whose brash fashion way back alienated lots of his colleagues, however they don’t look like attempting to push him to the exits both, at the very least earlier than federal investigators full their work.
“Those are serious implications. If it comes out to be true, yes, we would remove him,” Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican chief, informed Fox News this week. “But right now, Matt Gaetz says that it’s not true, and we don’t have any information. So let’s get all the information.”
Still, Mr. Gaetz himself could produce other plans. Before the disclosure of the inquiry this week, the congressman had been overtly discussing leaving the House to take a full-time job as a commentator at a conservative TV community, like Newsmax, in keeping with individuals conversant in the conversations. Mr. Gaetz has been a fixture of conservative media, however his authorized woes might complicate any plans he could have had earlier than they grew to become public.
In the meantime, nothing prevents Mr. Gaetz from persevering with to do his common congressional work, attending hearings, voting on laws and receiving labeled data each member of Congress is entitled to.
