Gaetz didn’t do himself any favors on Tucker last night.
Tucker gave him open air time to explain this story and yet, (I agree with Tucker’s assessment), that by the end of the interview I was more confused than before it.
I didn’t like the way Gaetz tried to pull Tucker to his side by bringing up the sexual assault hit job done on Tucker and claiming, “you know what this is like”. Also Gaetz recalled a lunch he had with Tucker in which he introduced the woman Gaetz was with and Tucker said afterward he had no idea what Gaetz was talking about.
Gaetz said his family was being blackmailed for 25 million dollars. I don’t know how you blackmail someone in secrecy for that kind of money unless you have something embarrassing to hold over them....at least some sort of damaging revelation....maybe not illegal but something they can use to stretch past the line of legality.
My thought is Gaetz did something politically embarrassing but I don’t think it was criminal. Maybe he traveled with or had a relationship with a young woman that was barely legal age. I think twice he said specifically he had no relationship with a 17 yr old. I believe him, but that kind of specific denial begs the question, so how old was she?
Who knows...but hopefully he does a better job of getting this out in the open or he will spiral down with no chance of recovery.
If you were never dating / traveling with a girl 17 or barely 18, why would you humor such a extortion attempt? Would t you just say “bring it, my youngest date was 23 and I can prove it?” Or were there so many barely 18s that even that discovery would look freaky?? I don’t get it.
The lawyer [part of a Pensacola law firm which, if I’m not mistaken, is very tight with Democrats]... was trying to extort money from Gaetz’s family, not from Gaetz himself, in the hope that the extortionist could get the family to believe something Gaetz himself would know wasn’t true and try to buy the lawyer’s silence to protect the family reputation. Part of the extortion may have been that the family had to keep the details from Gaetz himself or the extortionist would release info or something bad could happen to Gaetz or his fiance. Sounds like his Dad didn’t buy into what the extortionist was claiming to have on Gaetz, and went to the FBI.