Rep. Matt Gaetz, facing a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations, recently received a refusal to meet with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago property as the former president and his allies continue to distance themselves from him.Two people familiar with the matter said Gaetz tried to schedule a visit with Trump after it was first revealed that he was being investigated, but the request was rejected by advisers close to the former president, who have urged Trump not to take risks to defend. to Gaetz. Harlan Hill, a Gaetz spokesman, said the representative did not request a meeting with Trump this week.
“Representative Gaetz was greeted at Trump Doral this week and has not sought to meet with President Trump in person,” Hill said in a statement to Citizen Free Press, stating that Gaetz “has mainly been relaxing with his fiancée this week during the break.” .
Interference by Trump advisers indicates that Gaetz is increasingly isolated in the face of a scandal that could end his career, just months after he offered to leave his job in Congress to join the anti-corruption defense team. challenge of the 45th president.
Trump’s team response
Trump has only made one statement about Gaetz since the congressman’s role in a sex trafficking investigation became known in early April. In it, Trump denied receiving a blanket clemency request from the 38-year-old congressman and noted Gaetz’s denial of the allegations against him.
Following repeated requests for comment, Trump spokesman Jason Miller wrote in a tweet Sunday night that Gaetz did not request a meeting “and therefore could never have been declined.”
Federal investigators are examining allegations that Gaetz had sex with a minor who was 17 at the time and with other women to whom he provided drugs and money, in violation of sex trafficking and prostitution laws. Federal investigators are also trying to determine whether Gaetz received travel and women in exchange for political favors as part of a larger investigation, people familiar with the investigation tell Citizen Free Press.
Gaetz continues to deny all allegations against him and has not been charged with any crime.
For the rest, the former president has been silent since he issued the two-sentence letter last week. In his speech to GOP donors at his Palm Beach club on Saturday, Trump omitted Gaetz while mentioning many of his top Republican advocates, from South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to the former secretary general of the White House Mark Meadows to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, according to two people familiar with his comments.
Trump’s failure to mention Gaetz is striking to some of those in attendance, given the congressman’s enormous loyalty to the former president and the litany of other Republicans Trump mentioned during his speech.
Gaetz denounces ‘conspiracy theories’
Meanwhile, Gaetz’s appearance Friday at a pro-Trump women’s conference raised eyebrows within the former president’s orbit. Attendees viewed her last-minute speech at the Women for America First event, held at the nearby Trump National Doral resort, as a brazen attempt to reach out to Trump and his supporters.
A person directly involved in Trump’s post-presidential operation said that the former president’s advisers “had the impression that Gaetz went there to try to run into Trump or people around him.”
Gaetz, who was announced as a “special guest” just days before the summit began, used his time on stage to expose “wild conspiracy theories” about his personal life, and to reaffirm his plans to stay on Capitol Hill.
“I’m made for battle, and I’m not going anywhere,” he told the crowd.
Gaetz has already faced calls from a fellow Republican, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, to resign his seat in Congress and has received virtually no support within Trump’s orbit. The Florida arsonist, who is known for having few friends within Washington, is also at risk of losing his committee assignments based on investigators’ findings, the House minority leader said last week. Reps, Kevin McCarthy, to Globe Live Media.