I wonder if there's anyone in America who still hasn't heard of Matt Gaetz and his sex trafficking investigation at this point. On Friday, Politico published it's new polling data for last week, asking registered voters a series of "How much have you seen, read, or heard about the following?" questions:
• The murder trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer accused of killing George Floyd
a lot- 44%
nothing at all- 10%
• Lil Nas X releasing Satan-themed sneakers, which include a bronze pentagram in the design, and contain a drop of human blood
a lot- 22%
nothing at all- 35%
• The U.S. economy adding 916,000 jobs in March
a lot- 13%
nothing at all- 28%
• The container ship Ever Given running aground in the Suez Canal
a lot- 38%
nothing at all- 19%
• President Joe Biden introducing his $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan
a lot- 35%
nothing at all- 13%
• A Justice Department sex-trafficking investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL)
a lot- 23%
nothing at all- 27%
So... there you go. 27% of Americans have heard nothing at all about Gaetz's burgeoning sex scandal. Another 19% say they've heard of it but "not much." Among Democrats, 22% have heard nothing at all about it and among Republicans, 29% have heard nothing about it. 32% of Democrats and 16% of Republicans say they have heard a lot about it. But that was before the latest lurid revelations-- like the 3 girls for $900 deal and the trip to the Bahamas with Republican Party politicians and prostitutes-- and late night comedy takes.
This morning, Liz Cheney was on Face the Nation making sure everyone she could reach knew that Gaetz-- who went to Wyoming to denounce her and campaign against her after she voted to impeach Trump-- is, and this is her word, not mine: "sickening." Cheney, who had previously chided Gaetz for wearing makeup, said today that "You know as the mother of daughters, the charges certainly are sickening and as the Speaker noted, there is an ethics investigation underway. There are also criminal investigations underway. And I'm not going to comment further on that publicly right now." That was in response to Margaret Brennan asking her if she thought Gaetz should resign from Congress, which everyone knows she does.
Pelosi, on the same program this morning, said "it’s up to the Republicans to take responsibility for that. We in the Congress, in the House, have rule 23, which says that in the conduct of our duties we are not to bring dishonour to the House of Representatives. I think there’s been a clear violation of that. But it’s up to the ethics committee to investigate that. And it’s up to the Republican leader, Mr McCarthy, to act upon that behaviour."
This evening, CNN reported that when the Justice Department-- TRUMP's Justice Department-- investigation became public knowledge, Gaetz reached out to Trump for a meeting and was rebuffed. "The interference by Trump's aides [who told Trump Gaetz is radioactive] signals that Gaetz finds himself increasingly isolated as he weathers a potentially career-ending scandal just months after he offered to leave his plum job in Congress to join the 45th President's impeachment defense team."
