Matt Gaetz has faced scrutiny over investigations into his conduct.
Donald Trump’s nomination of former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz to attorney general generated scrutiny from the public and his party, with a House Ethics Committee report documenting an investigation of alleged misconduct still in the air.
The House Committee on Wednesday said it did not agree to make its report public. In June, the committee said it was investigating whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.
Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and has not been criminally charged but, amid the controversy, he withdrew as the attorney general nominee on Thursday.
Following his nomination, a Democratic strategist suggested that Gaetz had tried to seek a presidential pardon from Trump relating to a now-closed Justice Department investigation that examined allegations of violating federal sex trafficking laws.
The Claim
A post on X, formerly Twitter, by Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko, posted on November 19, 2024, said: “Matt Gaetz asked Trump for a pardon for sex trafficking a child. He didn’t get that pardon. So he came back and asked to be Attorney General.”
The Facts
The claim from Parkhomenko is based on the testimony of Trump aide John McEntee who told the January 6 House committee in 2022 that Gaetz had approached him about a pardon from Trump regarding the Justice Department investigation into allegations of “child trafficking.”
However, McEntee did not state whether the allegation against Gaetz was accurate and Gaetz has not confirmed whether McEntee’s comments were correct.
A spokesperson for Gaetz told Newsweek that the matter had been addressed in a statement provided to the media in 2022. Speaking to CNN in 2022, a Gaetz spokesperson said: “Congressman Matt Gaetz discussed pardons for many other people publicly and privately at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term.
“As for himself, President Trump addressed this malicious rumor more than a year ago stating, ‘Congressman Matt Gaetz has never asked me for a pardon.
