A high-profile Trump ally in Congress just straight-up threatened Michael Cohen
(CNN)
Less than 24 hours before former Trump fixer Michael Cohen is scheduled to appear in an open hearing to discuss his relationship with the President of the United States and shed light on his involvement in a hush money scheme involving two women alleging they had affairs with the billionaire businessman, Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz directly threatened Cohen via Twitter.
"Hey @MichaelCohen212," Gaetz tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. "Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she'll remain faithful when you're in prison. She's about to learn a lot..."
Gaetz offered zero proof for his claims of infidelity by Cohen. Speaking to reporters outside his office Tuesday evening, Gaetz defended his tweet, adding that it wasn't a threat. He told reporters his tweet wasn't witness-tampering, but instead was "witness-testing."
Gaetz said he's trying to get into Wednesday's hearing to ask questions (he's not on the House Oversight Committee), and he added that he didn't speak with Trump about his allegations.
In an interview with CBS News after the tweet, Gaetz was pressed for evidence of the claim he hinted at on his Twitter feed and he replied: "As the President loves to say, 'We'll see.' "
It's revealing that Gaetz chose to quote Trump in mounting his defense of an indefensible tweet. Few -- if any -- Republican members of Congress have more fully embraced Trump's go-for-the-jugular approach to politics than Gaetz. An April 2018 profile of Gaetz in GQ described him as the "Trumpiest Congressman in Trump's Washington."
I’ve seen Matt Gaetz on the political shows a few times and always thought he was a Tucker Carlson clone wannabe/jerk. This doesn’t surprise me and I’d lay a bet that nobody from his party will condemn him for it.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
BoSoxGal wrote:I’ve seen Matt Gaetz on the political shows a few times and always thought he was a Tucker Carlson clone wannabe/jerk. This doesn’t surprise me and I’d lay a bet that nobody from his party will condemn him for it.
He has since deleted the tweet and apologized, someone must have told him he was making his way to the top of the list of Mueller's next in line for indictment.
"Hang on while I log in to the James Webb telescope to search the known universe for who the fuck asked you." -- James Fell
Like so much else around these days, how thick do you have to be to say that in a public tweet?
We are talking serious, serious stupidity here. Dunning-Kruger in spades. It's as if the gangsters in the old days, who used to mutter out of the side of their mouths "Nice place you got here - it'd be a shame if something happened to it" took out a full page ad in the NYT instead.
That's similar to my observation about Trump's tweets...
It's as though the kinds petty, misanthropic and vicious things Richard Nixon would say to Bob Haldeman in private were now being broadcast to the public on a daily basis.....
That's Matt Gaetz with Cindy Yang at an event at President Donald Trump’s golf club in Jupiter during the summer of 2018. Cindy Yang is also known as Li Yang. She is a self-made entrepreneur from China who started a chain of Asian day spas in South Florida. Over the years, these establishments — many of which operate under the name Tokyo Day Spas — have gained a reputation for offering sexual services. One of those spas, which Yang had sold as a going concern, was where Patriots owner went to get his jollies.
