House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said Thursday that he has spoken to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) about the allegations against him, and that Gaetz maintained his innocence.
And this is why Republican presidents are immune to impeachment: they’ll only act if you’re indicted and DoJ, which is run by political appointees, believes it can’t indict sitting presidents.
Gee, I wonder what McCarthy’s position was on whether or not Al Franken should resign.
(Thinking, thinking, thinking…)
At the end of Thursday’s press conference, McCarthy said that he’d never seen any red flags in Gaetz’s behavior. CNN reported earlier this month that Gaetz had shown naked pictures of women he’d slept with to other lawmakers on the House floor.
“Like I said,” added McCarthy, “I haven’t seen any behavior outside the norms for elected republicans.”
Gosh Kev…how BRAVE of you…I bet if it was a Democrat you’d be INCENSED, OUTRAGE and just plain MAD that they were being allowed to breathe…
Plans To Take Action If He’s Charged
McCarthy will get right on it and reopen the Benghazi hearings, this time on a mission to get to the bottom of things. Wait, you can’t do that when you’re in the minority? Ok, a referral to the ethics committee with an understanding they’ll make a recommendation in time for the 2023 elections.
If you catch the same thing twice, you’re not immune.
Consequences of impeachment, yeah, that’s different. Isn’t it, Mitch?
Flying to the bahamas to meet a planeload of florida women less than half his age?
McCarthy is a moral windsock who will do nothing his far-right caucus does not support. In the meantime Gaetz refines his performance chops, gaining news profile and fund-raising stats as he goes and, if he gains enough ground I doubt even an indictment will lose him caucus support. That is the Trumpist calculus and there is no doubt Gaetz knows that math.
I think we are all missing the point here: sans Gaetz, McCarthy et al will be forced to develop their own sex-trafficking network. That requires a lot of effort.
“Matt Gaetz is the same as any American, he’s innocent until proven guilty,” McCarthy said, adding: “There are no charges against him yet. If a charge comes forward, that would be dealt with at that time.”
I’m no supporter of Gaetz, but it seems to me that being innocent until proven guilty is not the same thing as being charged. McCarthy is setting up two different standards. So, Kevin, help us out here: is the line being charged or being convicted?
Cheap talk and shitty theater …
Meanwhile, Vanita Gupta’s nomination is on the floor today, tight as it can be … not news? I think it is.
No red flags?? No red flags??? NO RED FLAGS??? The indicators were flashing red, you idiot!!! Matty was bragging about his exploits, you dope!!!
Poor Kevin. He still can’t seem to understand the difference between criminal liability and fiduciary duty. A crime is where somebody has done something so bad that society has to intervene to stop the bad behavior and typically dole out some kind of punishment. In contrast, a person in a position of trust has to act in the best interest of those people to whom he owes a duty of care to act prudently and a duty of loyalty not to self-deal or otherwise exploit the powers granted him to his personal benefit. All congress members take an oath to uphold the constitution that includes this higher standard. However, while the mere odor of impropriety is sufficient to get a judge thrown off a case, this is not true for legislators. Gerrymandering is a classic example of self-dealing, but SCOTUS has overlooked the problem because eventually the benefit goes to the gerrymandering party (even if some of these people sit in office for decades).
In any case, the correct answer is that Matt can be reprimanded long before his crimes are proven beyond a reasonable doubt in court. For example, why on earth is Matt Gaetz still sitting on the Judiciary Committee?
that would have been good context for this article.
In Ye Olden Times, the Minority leader wouldn’t have to deal with this. A politician would resign after being charged with a serious crime but not yet convicted to “avoid being a distraction.”
Gaetz isn’t following that playbook; he’ll be a drag on the GOP for months to come. Maybe all the way to the midterms. Which is fine.
Come on, these were completely different cases. All Gaetz is accused of is sex trafficking, having sex with an underage girl, some illegal drug use and maybe a few other little things along those lines. But that monster Franken put his arm around a woman’s waist during a photo shoot. And even squeezed! Of course, he had to go immediately.
If I never again hear “but but but frannnnken!!!” in one of these conversations, it will be too fucking soon.
Minnesotans wanted him gone, and everybody else can respectfully pound sand.
