“As a mother of daughters, the charges are definitely sick. As the Speaker noted, an ethical investigation is underway, there are criminal investigations underway, and I do not want to comment on that now,” Cheney said. said on CBS ‘”Face the Nation.”
Asked if she was surprised by the allegations, Cheney simply said, “I’m not going to comment further.”
Gaetz, who is not only facing a federal investigation but is also being investigated by the House Ethics Committee, was a regular critic of Cheney and even traveled to her home country to hold a protest against her after she voted to accuse former president. Donald Trump for “incitement to insurrection” on January 6.
Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, who also voted for accusation and was a regular critic of Trump’s embrace of the GOP, became the first congressional Republican to ask Gaetz to step down last week. Few GOP allies speak out on behalf of Gaetz, and most Republicans have remained silent while the federal investigation hangs over his head.
Federal investigators are investigating allegations that Gaetz had sex with an underage girl who was then 17 and with other women who obtained drugs and money in violation of sex trafficking and prostitution laws. Federal investigators also want to determine if Gaetz traveled and women were provided in exchange for political favors as part of a broader investigation, people familiar with the investigation told CNN.
Gaetz denied any wrongdoing and no charges were filed against him. In response to the ethics committee’s Friday announcement that he was investigating Gaetz, his office told CNN that the “allegations are blatantly false and have not been confirmed by a single person willing to put their name behind them.”
With his first public appearance since the news of the investigation became known, Gaetz struck a challenging tone at a conservative summit in Trump’s Miami golf course on Friday night.
“The smears against me range from twists in my personal life to wildlife, and I mean wild conspiracy theories,” the Florida Republican said during the “Save America Summit” hosted by Women for America First at Trump National Doral.
During Sunday’s interview, Cheney also told the Arkansas Republican government, Asa Hutchinson, to reprimand Trump’s recent comments. During a Republican National Committee donation that was withdrawn Saturday night, the former president reiterated lies about the 2020 election and insulted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a person in the room told CNN.
“The former president uses the same language he knows provoked violence on January 6,” Cheney said.
“As a party, we need to be focused on the future.”
CNN’s Jeremy Herb and Annie Grayer contributed to this report.
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