Two people familiar with the matter said Gaetz wanted to plan a visit to Trump after it was first revealed that he was being investigated, but the request was rejected by assistants near the former president, who Trump requested not to stick his neck out. defends Gaetz. Gaetz spokesman Harlan Hill said Congressman did not request a meeting with Trump this week.
“Rep. Gaetz was welcomed into Trump Doral this week and did not want to meet with President Trump himself,” Hill told CNN in a statement, claiming that Gaetz “mostly relaxed with his fiancée during the recess this week.”
The interference by Trump’s associates indicates that Gaetz finds himself increasingly isolated, as he defends a potentially career-ending scandal just months after he offered to leave his plumbing in Congress to join the 45th president’s indictment team. to serve. Trump has issued only one statement about Gaetz since the public first heard of the congressman’s role in an investigation into sex trafficking. In it, Trump denied ever receiving a cover-up request from the 38-year-old congressman and noted Gaetz’s denial of the allegations against him.
After repeated requests for comment, Trump spokesman Jason Miller wrote in a tweet Sunday night that Gaetz had not requested a meeting “and so it could never be denied.”
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 continued to deny all allegations against him and was not charged with any crimes.
The former president has otherwise remained silent since issuing the two-year sentence last week. Trump spoke to deep-pocketed GOP donors at his Palm Beach club on Saturday, omitting Gaetz while naming many of his top Republican defenders – from the South Dakota government, Kristi Noem, and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows , to the Government of Florida. Ron DeSantis and Ohio, Jim Jim, according to two people familiar with his remarks.
Trump’s failure to name Gaetz was considered conspicuous to some in the crowd, given the extraordinary loyalty of the congressman to the former president and the litigation of other Republicans who called for Trump during his speech.
Meanwhile, Gaetz’s appearance at a conference for Trump women on Friday raised eyebrows within the former president’s court. Aides saw his last speech at the Women for America First rally, held in the nearby Trump National Doral resort, as a blatant attempt to reach Trump and his supporters.
A person directly involved in Trump’s post-presidential operation said the former president’s assistants’ were under the impression that Gaetz was going there to try to run into Trump or people around him. ‘
Gaetz, who was announced as a ‘special guest’ only a few days before the summit began, used his time on stage to expose ‘wild conspiracy theories’ about his personal life, and his plans to stay on Capitol Hill, reaffirm.
“I was built for battle and I’m not going anywhere,” he told the crowd.
Gaetz has already received calls from one Republican colleague, Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, to resign his congressional seat and has received virtually no support from Trump’s job. The Florida firefighter, who is known for having few friends in Washington, is also in danger of losing his assignments to the committee, depending on the findings of investigators, Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House of Representatives, last told Fox News week.
This story was updated with comments from a Trump spokesman.
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