Matt Gaetz | | U.S. Representative from Florida's 1st Congressional District From: January 3, 2017 – present Predecessor | Jeff Miller Successor | Incumbent (no successor) Former State Representative from Florida's 4th District From: April 13, 2010 – November 8, 2016 Predecessor | Ray Sansom Successor | Mel Ponder Information Party | Republican Religion | Baptist Matthew Louis “Matt” Gaetz, II, born May 7, 1982 (age 40), is a Republican U.S. representative representing Florida's 1st congressional district since 2017. Gaetz gave a notable speech in May 2019 advocating for an America First foreign policy.[1] He has criticized Congress' prioritizing Russia/Ukraine issues over securing the U.S. southern border.[2] Gaetz has been targeted by neocons for among other things his opposition to Saudi Arabian influence on American politics, his opposition to war with Iran, his open contempt for George W. Bush, and his public feud with Liz Cheney.[3][4][5][6] Their influence may have resulted in him being excluded from Trump's impeachment defense team.[7] He indicated in December 2020 that he would object on the House floor to the certification of Joe Biden based on Electoral fraud in the United States presidential election, 2020. Despite all of the above, Gaetz does have some liberal views on social issues. In 2015, while serving in the Florida state legislature, he sponsored a repeal on its ban on adoption by homosexuals,[8]. In 2019, he defending Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) before she resigned over a sex scandal. Gaetz also defied conservatives by voting to increase visa caps for high-skilled (i.e., high-paid) workers (2019 roll call h437).[9] Some of those views on social issues have since been reversed, such as when he voted against the radical Equality Act. In September of 2021, he voted with Democrats and RINOs to pass a red flag gun confiscation bill, leaving many conservatives outraged;[10][11] however, he expressed regret and successfully fought to remove them from the bill. Gaetz has otherwise remained strongly pro-Second Amendment.[12] Gaetz also endorsed the idea to make President Donald J. Trump speaker of the House to reinstate the latter as the true, official and legitimate President and impeach and indict Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and other globalist, leftist/liberal/neo-Marxist and RINO criminals, conspirators, insurrectionists, parasites and traitors.[13][14] In early 2021, Gaetz was the victim of a false, baseless, malicious, and coordinated personal attack by the liberal media.[15] Gaetz's accusation of attempted extortion was later corroborated.[16] ## References[edit] 1. ↑ Wong, Kristina (May 23, 2019). Matt Gaetz Delivers Impassioned Foreign Policy Speech: ‘America First Means the American People First’. Breitbart News. Retrieved May 23, 2019. See also: * Moran, Sean (June 16, 2019). Matt Gaetz: ‘America First’ Means Protecting U.S. Border Before Avenging Japanese Vessels. Breitbart News. Retrieved June 16, 2019. * Mills, Curt (August 19, 2019). Matt Gaetz Goes to Washington. The American Conservative. Retrieved August 25, 2019. 2. ↑ Poor, Jeff (November 17, 2019). Gaetz: My Constituents Question Congress Concerns over Russia-Ukraine Instead of U.S.-Mexico Border. Breitbart News. Retrieved November 17, 2019. 3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri4D0Raczqo 4. ↑ https://twitter.com/mattgaetz/status/1215447980305797122 5. ↑ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/21/liz-cheney-asked-some-republicans-step-down-after-trump-criticisms/5480384002/ 6. ↑ https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/us-rep-matt-gaetz-urges-wyoming-unseat-liz-cheney#stream/0 7. ↑ Matt Gaetz says he was kept off impeachment defense team over war powers vote. New York Post. 8. ↑ https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=720277.docx&DocumentType=Amendments&BillNumber=7013&Session=2015 9. ↑ http://politicsthatwork.com/voting-record/Matt-Gaetz-412690 10. ↑ https://welovetrump.com/2021/09/25/here-are-the-135-republicans-who-just-voted-for-red-flag-gun-confiscation/ 11. ↑ https://americanfaith.com/read-the-names-135-republicans-vote-with-democrats-to-advance-red-flag-gun-confiscation-bill-as-part-of-ndaa/ 12. ↑ https://www.ontheissues.org/FL/Matt_Gaetz_Gun_Control.htm 13. ↑ https://newrepublic.com/article/164670/matt-gaetz-trump-speaker-2024 14. ↑ https://www.newsweek.com/matt-gaetz-trump-speaker-house-gorka-1681738 15. ↑ He was accused of taking a seventeen-year-old girl across state lines for sex, which prompted an FBI investigation. Gaetz denies these claims and has stated that they are the product of an extortion scheme targeting him and his father, former Florida State Senate President Don Gaetz https://www.businessinsider.com/matt-gaetz-sex-trafficking-extortion-investigation-explainer-timeline-2021-3. In the months prior to Donald Trump's departure from office, Gaetz is alleged to have sought a pardon from the President, although both men have denied that such a request was ever made. https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-defends-matt-gaetz-denies-florida-congressman-asked-pardon-1581697 Meanwhile, leaked texts indicate the possibility of Israeli Embassy involvement in the alleged extortion scheme, which in turn was centered around efforts to raise money to get the now-deceased FBI agent Robert Levinson released from Iranian custody. All parties involved in the alleged scheme have denied that whatever they requested or demanded amounted to extortion; and the Israeli consulate employee involved in the scheme has claimed that he didn't know about the allegations against Gaetz until shortly before they were made public, in the process implying that he may not have been "kept entirely in the loop" about the situation. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/state-of-the-union/leaked-texts-from-israeli-consular-official-show-more-details-in-gaetz-levinson-funding-scheme/ 16. ↑ https://www.dailywire.com/news/media-for-months-reported-on-matt-gaetz-investigation-without-evidence-gaetzs-claims-of-extortion-were-just-corroborated-however ## External links[edit] * Campaign Website * House Website * Profile at Ballotpedia v • d • e Conservatism Ideology| Conservative values • Charity • Constitutional • Family values • Fiscal conservatism • Free market • God • Homeschooling • Insights • Law • Paleoconservative • Logic • Movement conservative • Open Source • Republicanism • Right to life • Conservative style • Old Right Leaders and Thinkers| Ralph Abernathy • Leslie Arends • John Ashbrook • William F. 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