Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) says the “swamp is out to drown” him “with false” charges of sexual misconduct, but he is not backing down.
“Washington scandal cycles are predictable, and sex is especially potent in politics. Let me first remind everyone that I am a representative in Congress, not a monk, and certainly not a criminal,” Gaetz wrote in an op-ed published in the Washington Examiner on Monday.
The New York Times reported last week Gaetz is under investigation over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and “paid for her to travel with him.” Gaetz denied the allegations.
Multiple sources told CNN Gaetz bragged about his relationships and sexual experiences with women to his colleagues.
“To this point, there are exactly zero credible (or even non-credible) accusers willing to come forward by name and state on the public record that I behaved improperly toward them, in the manner by which Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ten accusers,” Gaetz wrote.
“Instead, CNN, the New York Times, Politico, and others are just repeating false allegations about a congressman who loathes the swamp and fights both sides of it on a daily basis,” Gaetz added.
He mentioned how media giants once labeled former President Donald Trump as a “Russian asset,” Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh as a “gang rapist,” and the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) “as having fathered a child out of wedlock.”
Gaetz continued, “Of course, none of what they say ever amounts to anything, yet it is endlessly repeated by leftist television anchors such as Chris Cuomo, who uses his platform to cover for his brother’s appalling subjection of nursing home patients to death by the coronavirus. They think themselves such wonderful arbiters of moral purpose.”
Claiming he “never, ever paid for sex,” Gaetz added, “I, as an adult man, have not slept with a 17-year-old.”
The congressman stressed he is “absolutely not resigning.”
Gaetz argued the Biden Justice Department would rather investigate him than the president’s son, Hunter Biden, for his “shady business dealings.”
Vowing he is “going to fight like hell for my constituents and the country I deeply love,” Gaetz concluded, “You deserve no less, especially right now.”