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Matt Gaetz

Matt Gaetz (7 May 1982-) was a member of the US House of Representatives (R-FL 1) from 3 January 2017 to 13 November 2024, succeeding Jeff Miller.

Biography

Matt Gaetz was born in Hollywood, Florida in 1982, the son of politician Don Gaetz. He served in the State House of Representatives from 2010 to 2016, when he was elected to the US House of Representatives. He was one of the most pro-gun legislators in the history of the Florida State Legislature, and he was a staunch conservative; he self-identified as a libertarian-populist. Gaetz became known as a staunch defender of Donald Trump, mocking the Democrats' COVID-19 precautions by wearing a gas mask to a vote on Capitol Hill, and blasting the Democrats as the party of "Manhattan elites and Hollywood moguls" at the 2020 Republican National Convention. In March 2021, the New York Times revealed that Gaetz was being investigated for his role in a child sex trafficking ring due to his ties to Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, and, on 6 April 2021, it was revealed that Gaetz had privately requested that Trump grant him a blanket preemptive presidential pardon, which was denied as bad precedent. Gaetz was also investigated for paying for a 17-year-old girl to accompany him during interstate travel. On 16 April 2021, amid the height of his controversy, he joined Marjorie Taylor Greene's far-right America First Caucus. In October 2023, he filed a motion to vacate the position of Speaker of the House, resulting in the removal of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who had worked with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown. On 13 November 2024, Trump announced he would nominate Gaetz to serve as Attorney General, but he resigned from the House early to prevent the House Ethics Committee from publishing an ethics report concerning his sexual improprieties and withdrew himself from the nomination on 21 November.

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