A spokesman for the speaker told Reuters that reports that Nancy Pelosi, US speaker, Nancy Pelosi had made a quote about Congressman Matt Gaetz, and that the various allegations against him were being fabricated. The claims on social media are presented without any evidence.
Examples can be seen here and here. The quote reads: “No other person has ever deserved more for what comes to them than Matt Gaetz.”
The Department of Justice is investigating whether Gaetz may have violated sex trafficking laws by paying travel expenses for a 17-year-old woman, according to a U.S. law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity (here).
The ethics committee of the U.S. House of Representatives is also investigating Gaetz for allegations, including possible sexual misconduct and illegal drug use (here).
Reuters could not find a record of Pelosi’s remark as quoted above. A statement of this kind by the House Speaker would probably be widely reported by news organizations. Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill told Reuters in an email: “It’s made up.”
A Google search for the quote (here) shows no credible results.
The quotes do not exist on Pelosi’s Twitter page twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi or in ProPublica’s “Politwoops” archive, which follows deleted tweets by public officials (here).
Pelosi did say on April 1, 2021, that Gaetz should be removed from the House Judiciary Committee if the allegations against him were true, as reported here by CBS News.
Reuters Fact Check has earlier dismissed several fabricated quotes attributed to Pelosi, which can be seen here, here and here.
VERDICT
Untrue. Nancy Pelosi did not say, “No other person has ever earned what would come to them other than Matt Gaetz.”
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.