The P in GOP increasingly seems to stand for “perpetrator” as more and more members of the good ol’ party find themselves in legal trouble.
Take Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, who, several years after first being accused of sex trafficking a minor, is seeing investigations into his actions ramping back up. This is even as his fellow gasbag and Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene broadly proclaims that “it’s all changed” and “the establishment got the message.” Assuming the message in question was that a startling number of Republican congresspeople are criminals under the surface, then sure. Way to go Marge, you finally got one right.
But assuming (more accurately) that Greene was attempting to claim the “establishment” will quietly bow out of its many investigations into our corrupt political leaders, our girl is just as wrong as usual. No, the GOP isn’t suddenly freed from those pesky investigations into a range of troubling accusations. In fact, many of those legal inquiries are ongoing.
Gaetz’s investigation stretched years, and never really reached a satisfying conclusion. The 42-year-old has been under a microscope since 2020, when the Justice Department first caught wind of potentially illegal activity. The investigation into his alleged sex trafficking of a minor quietly developed in the background until finally, in 2024, when the House Ethics Committee was in the final stages of its investigation into Gaetz, Trump tapped the five-finger forehead to join his incoming administration.
The committee was nearing a conclusion, after reaching out to both the Justice Department and the woman who Gaetz allegedly had sexual relations with when she was only 17. Just in case anyone needs a refresher, that makes the woman in question a minor based on Florida law, and — if the allegations were ever found to be true — that would make Gaetz a pedophile. You know, the thing Republicans are constantly accusing Democrats of being.
Following the announcement of his elevated new position, Gaetz followed with news of his intent to resign from Congress effective immediately. If he’s no longer a member of the House, there’s no need for a House ethics investigation, which essentially gives the 42-year-old a pass.
It’s very likely Gaetz will no longer face charges, now that he’s set to become America’s next attorney general. He still faces a fight to get approved by the Senate, but now that Trump controls so much of the vital government branch, chances are slim that he’ll be stopped. That will situate two broadly-investigated men into uniquely powerful positions, from which they can shut down any further checks on their behavior, criminal activity, and past transgressions.