Pray for Matt Gertz, who is not — I repeat, not — Rep. Matt Gaetz. pic.twitter.com/NF65i34dgJ
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) February 26, 2019
It’s not like Gaetz had real ties to the Trump Crime Cartel, about from their common party membership. Per Mr. Pierce, who gets paid to keep track of these fekkers:
Congressman Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, already has made quite a name for himself as an up-and-coming lunatic phenom in the order of a Louie Gohmert, a Steve King, or a Glenn Grothman. He’s a dolt with a DUI arrest who’s made his mark as the primary administration mouthpiece in the Congress.
He’s not a member of the House Oversight Committee, which means he won’t be sitting there on Wednesday when Michael Cohen comes by that committee to chat. This, Gaetz apparently reasoned, was an appropriate excuse to engage in a little witness intimidation and/or witness tampering on the electric Twitter machine anyway…
Let me put it this way: if one of my clients made a statement to a witness like @mattgaetz did, I'd be telling them to board their dogs so they don't get shot when the arrest team shows up.
— EmergenHat (@Popehat) February 26, 2019
And this ain’t Paul Ryan’s House any more. From SFGate:
… House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a stern warning to members of Congress over any comments that they make on social media leading up to Cohen’s Wednesday testimony for the House Judiciary Committee.
“I encourage all Members to be mindful that comments made on social media or in the press can adversely affect the ability of House Committees to obtain the truthful and complete information necessary to fulfill their duties,” Pelosi said in a statement Tuesday night.Pelosi called on the House Committee on Ethics to monitor any statements made by lawmakers prior to Cohen’s highly anticipated congressional testimony.
“As a result, such statements can be construed as not reflecting creditably on the House, and the Committee on Ethics should vigilantly monitor these types of statements, which may not be protected by the Speech or Debate Clause,” she said…
Gaetz denied accusations of witness tampering.
“We’re witness testing, not witness tampering, and when witnesses come before Congress, their truthfulness and veracity are in question, and we have the opportunity to test them,” he told reporters Tuesday.
Background reading, from the Orlando Weekly: Matt Gaetz loves him some dumb publicity stunts.
Here at @CrimeADay, we don't usually take requests, but…
18 USC §1505 makes it a federal crime to use a threatening letter or communication to influence, obstruct, or impede an inquiry or investigation being conducted by a Congressional committee.
— A Crime a Day (@CrimeADay) February 26, 2019
Note that the various obstruction of justice statutes all require proof of specific intent (through, for instance, the "corruptly" language), so if @mattgaetz is drunk again he may have a defense.
— EmergenHat (@Popehat) February 26, 2019
Maggie Haberman finds the silver lining!
I think maybe this, from a Trump loyalist, doesn't really disprove what Cohen is expected to say tomorrow – that Trump demands extreme loyalty and wants others to be willing to blow themselves up for him. https://t.co/tsXRZD4KSd
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 26, 2019
People are sleeping on this a bit. Can't tell me Gaetz WASN'T trying to imply that if Cohen's supposed crime boss father-in-law knew Cohen had cheated on his daughter that some tragedy might befall a government witness. https://t.co/zU5Nb4Ankh
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) February 26, 2019
Speaking of people who are looking to get themselves locked up…
but gosh golly gee I wonder who Gatt Maetz might have as a source who has both known Michael Cohen long enough to know his personal demons AND a history of intimidating witnesses. pic.twitter.com/Erd7tfN9Ta
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) February 26, 2019
Extinction burst, I tell myself. Extinction burst.
Roger Moore
Lock him up!
hells littlest angel
I picture Matt Gaetz sitting at home working on the twelve-pack of Bud Light that was delivered to him with a note reading, “Thanks, from a friend.”
Cathie from Canada
Nice little congressional hearing you have here. Be a shame if something were to happen to it.
cope
A**holes gotta a**hole, doncha know?
Just when I think the award for “Most Asinine Politician From the State of Florida” has already been handed out…the Gaetzman strikes. My brain, it reels.
MattF
Well, thank you, Nancy. Gaetz needs to register the fact that he’s no longer protected from the consequences of his own stupidity. He also needs to be hit again, and harder, IMO.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
This fucking guy is bona fide fascist. He’s a threat to our democracy.
Sebastian
I hear ya Anne. I can barely contain my rage.
Amir Khalid
Who does this guy think he is, Dinsdale Piranha?
cain
I saw him on TV, and goddam he sure has a punchable face. I seriously wanted to slap him just so I can see a shocked lock on his face. Asshole.
MattF
Note also, (via Rick Wilson) a statement from Michael Cohen.
C Stars
I’m going to start telling myself this too. It kind of works for all of everything right now.
I heard a piece on NPR about how the GOP can paint Cohen as dishonest/not credible, but the Democrats don’t have anything to counter that with. BUT THE GOP IS SAYING COHEN IS DISHONEST BECAUSE HE DID EXACTLY WHAT TRUMP DID!! I.e. cheat on his wife(wives), multiple mistresses etc. I mean FUUUCK! It’s so frustrating that these journalists can’t even connect the closest-together dots.
MomSense
Wow. Just wow. I don’t know what to say anymore.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Sebastian
@MattF:
Whoa. “The meeting is all set” “Good … let me know”
clay
@MattF: That’s quite a statement. As an optimist, I believe people can change, and seek redemption. I hope Michael Cohen is sincerely trying to change for the better, and I hope he finds his redemption.
His testimony is a good start.
BR
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
The divide and conquer is strong with Cohen — he drives wedges between all the main characters in this crazy story…
sdhays
It astounds me that anyone, including Cohen’s wife, would think he wouldn’t have a piece on the side. Are they not acquainted with his (former) best friend, Donald J. Trump?
What an absurd and stupid threat.
cain
@clay:
I’m willing to forgive him if he will help bring down the traitor and his cronies.
TaMara (HFG)
@MattF: JFC, Trump is a two-bit wanna be mob boss. I mean, of course, but that opening statement. Dear god, he doesn’t have dementia, he just a straight-up sociopath.
Yarrow
Posted this in an earlier thread. In addition to being buddies with Roger Stone,
Trump, Stone, Gorka, Nunes, Gym Jordan, Erik Prince, Rohrabacher, and Jack Abramoff. It’s pretty much traitors all the way down.
Yarrow
@TaMara (HFG): Mueller is rolling them up like the mob. Because they are. It’s the Russian mob this time and it’s far bigger than most people can grasp.
Yarrow
Ohhhh…after that Nancy SMASH statement, Drunky McFelony is walking it waaaaay back:
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Yarrow: I guess Drunk McFelony is unaware that the internet is forever. His tweet is all over the internet, even on a nearly top 10,000 blog.
Yarrow
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I think he’s trying to avoid being charged with witness tampering.
cain
@Yarrow:
He’s probably laughing his ass off, the damage is already done. The apology is just to escape any culpability for what he did.
Mary G
Somebody had to apologize to Mommy:
Must have heard from his lawyer.
Mary G
@Yarrow: You beat me!
ETA:
Nancy SMASH!
Yarrow
@Mary G: So good it’s worth posting twice!
Edit: I’m reading through Cohen’s statement. Wow. Worth a read.
Jay
Cohen’s dad is the consiglitorri to the Brighton Beach Russian mob and Cohen had 10% of “the business” until just before Treason Tribble rode diwn the escalator because he’s afraid of stairs.
Jay
@cain:
Meuller don’t care. He ain’t going to be “quitting” any time soon as long as the ReThugs keep criming.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
There was a special election today in NYC for Public Advocate.
Justice Democrats/The Young Turks/Rose Twitter/Susan Sarandon ran a candidate named Nomiki Konst, who is also one of Wilmer’s top surrogates and staffers.
They lost. The great socialist uprising, in deep, deep, blue NYC, could only manage a feeble 2% of the vote.
Jay
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
They ain’t socialists, they are just left wing grifters and outrage ponies.
Real socialists like AOC are getting it done.
Yarrow
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Doesn’t bode well for the Wilmer wing of the not-really-a-Democrat-ic party.
Duane
Party of personal responsibility. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !
What a laugh.
trollhattan
Douches gotta douche.
Yarrow
From the Cohen statement:
The Hoarse Whisperer on Twitter has written about dealing with narcissists. As we watched Cohen go from a Trump loyalist to openly signaling that he was wavering and open to negotiating to finally flipping, the HW wrote about how it works when the scales finally fall from the eyes of someone who has been under the spell of a narcissist. When they finally see they cannot believe they did what they did. The above paragraph reminds me of that. Maybe it’s all bs or maybe it’s Cohen finally seeing what he did because he was under Trump’s spell.
rk
Cohen sent threatening letters to the college board, Trump’s college and high school about not releasing his grades and SAT scores? Are they really that stupid? I guess thuggish behavior is such a part of their persona that it doesn’t occur to them that none of these entities would ever release the records to anyone except Trump. I can’t even get my kid’s college grades without his written permission. Do these guys have any idea how the system works or do they think everyone operates like crooked real estate developers.
jacy
@Yarrow:
Wowzers. I read through the statement.
NotMax
It’s always attack the messenger (in this case Cohen), not the message, ain’t it?
Wait for the outrage machine to go into hyperdrive about Mueller having eaten paste in kindergarten!
Jay
@rk:
Yes, they are that stupid.
Meet your Ogliarches.
gwangung
Amusingly, another data point for Yes-They-ARE-That-Stupid:
https://twitter.com/Sorry_What_Now/status/1100636590735380481
trollhattan
Holy Jesus, that Cohen statement is a giant sack of padlocks to Trump’s head.
Jay
@gwangung:
Yup.
Anne Laurie
@gwangung: As my Irish ancestors would say: Sen. Harris is fortunate in her enemies.
Jay
@trollhattan:
And that’s not the “classified” stuff.
Amir Khalid
@Jay:
A misspelling can undercut your point, as it does here.
Yarrow
@trollhattan: It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? I mean..
Okay, then. That pretty much lays it all out.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Wilmer in Disarray!
ONE week in and his campaign team quits.
Moreover, it’s shocking than Tad Devine was still on his team, given he worked hand-in-glove with Paul Manafort to prop up Putin’s oligarch in Ukraine.
Yarrow
More Cohen statement.
Heh.
Jay
@Amir Khalid:
Only with pedants like you and Steve in the ????????
I once wrote a rather brilliant comment ( if I do say so) and the only response I got was that I used too many commas and apostrophes.
I’m on a mobile, in an area where even with a repeater and amplifier, I get one bar, and I don’t use spellcheck.
I ain’t writing War and Peace here.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
NotMax
@Yarrow
Closest Dolt 45 will ever get to breathing the same air as Jane Fonda. //
Mary G
@Yarrow: I find myself impressed with Cohen’s writng. It doesn’t sound like his old “the law says a man can’t rape his wife” old persona.
Amir Khalid
@Jay:
My point stands.
gwangung
Ah, yes. Trump goes to Vietnam, and praises Kim Jung Un and the current Vietnamese government. IOW, two of the few actual Communist countries left in this world. Cadet Bone Spurs indeed.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Jay: Hey what about me? I can pedantify too! Though only (very well) in my first language. And let’s please not forget Gin and Tonic and Steeplejack.
Jay
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Gotcher Faux Special Report right here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=po_hBMtTaDg
lgerard
I had forgotten about this great Gaetz moment
Sometimes heroes come in small packages
rk
@Jay:
I read your comment and didn’t even note the spelling. I have the worst spelling myself.
Jay
@Amir Khalid:
Alone,
in a corner,
ignored,
like football in North America,
ending 0/0.
White is the Colour,
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t8Sywr_6Lqw
Duane
@Jay: All that edjucation and you still say ain’t? What a waist.
Yarrow
@Mary G: I’d guess his lawyers had something to do with this statement, including how it’s written–tone, style, etc.
Jay
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:
I only respond to active pedantry, you didn’t jump in and last I heard of Steve in the ???????? he was drinking “Delta” wine on a plane off somewhere.
NotMax
@Duane
That’s edjumacation.
/pedantree
:)
Jay
@Duane:
I often write ‘Murkin, because it sounds just like how a Gullabillie pronounces it, and because it is also a pubic hair wig for men.
Yarrow
@NotMax: Exactly. If we’re going to pedantize, gotta get it right.
Yarrow
More Cohen statement:
Did Matt Gaetz see that last sentence before he posted that tweet intimidating Cohen and his family? Or after?
Jay
@NotMax:
I know cedar, birch, larch, plane, ginko, apple, cherry, a bunch of firs, a crapload of others,
but whats a pedan tree?
Yarrow
Oh, hey.
Jay
@Yarrow:
He took it as an instructionable, not a censure.
NotMax
@Yarrow
Important but hardly new from Holder, who has been saying this since at least this past December. What is new from him (AFAIK) is his call this week to jettison the electoral college.
@Jay
Like ents, trees which perambulate, silly.
:)
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@NotMax: I’m so sorry to have forgotten you! I’ve lost track of Steve in the wherever the fuck he is this week, but I’m appalled and ashamed that I left you off the list. Profuse apologies.
Jay
@NotMax:
That’s a pedestrian silly, tree’s don’t walk. When you see what you think is a walking tree, it’s just an extra furry beckbearded man bunned hipster.
Jay
@Jay:
Or a Duck Dynasty Cosplayer.
Sebastian
@Yarrow:
I liked that one, too. Very nice.
Also nice:
Amir Khalid
@Jay:
A pox on thee.
Jay
@Amir Khalid:
Manchester sucks butt,
Amir Khalid
@Jay:
I have no opinion on the city. But I can see that you don’t actually need spellcheck to police your orthography.
Jay
@Amir Khalid:
Sometimes I can construct proper sentences, with proper grammar.
Sometimes my big fingers don’t work the small keypad, ( much much bigger than Orange Bloat’s),
Sometimes I don’t catch it because I’m too focused on getting a bar and hitting post, trying to avoid the “your phone is not connected to the internet”,
You should hear me speak. Half my vocabulary was learned from reading books, with no phonetics. My wife laughs her ass off and says, “did you mean??????”.
Jay
@Amir Khalid:
Could have been worse, I could have linked the Proclaimers cover of the Whitecaps Anthem.
sukabi
@TaMara (HFG): I think what’s surprising you is that you were hoping his actions were the result of a brain falling apart…and it turns out that his PRIMARY affliction is that he’s a stone cold sociopath. Secondary is that he’s been declining mentally for a while which is making his sociopathy more blatant.
Amir Khalid
@Jay:
This is a football anthem.
Jay
@Amir Khalid:
Yeah, no.
A footie anthem is your teams song. Whitecaps forever, ( except for the ‘aughts when team management killed the team).
There’s only one footie anthem for me.
Frank McCormick
@NotMax:
The folks that are “attacking the messenger and not the message” are the same ones that misuse the phrase “ad hominem” when someone points out that what they said was horrible.
Droppy
@Jay:
It’s the tree from which we pick pedans to make pedan pie. Unfortunately, recently decimated by a pest, the pedan tick.
Alien Radio
@Droppy: This deserves full marks.