Back in February of 2019, a day before Michael Cohen was set to testify to the House Oversight Committee about business deals and hush money payoffs he made to women former President Donald Trump had extramarital affairs with, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) sent out a threatening tweet:
Hey @MichaelCohen212 – Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot…— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) February 26, 2019
That tweet got Gaetz in hot water with the House Ethics Committee, which later admonished him, Politico reported in August of 2020:
“While the 10-member panel determined that the Florida Republican’s ‘actions did not reflect creditably upon the House of Representatives,’ the committee also concluded in its report that he ‘did not violate witness tampering and obstruction of Congress laws’ and declined to issue more severe sanctions against the Florida Republican.”
Gaetz later deleted the controversial tweet and apologized for posting it, although few believed his apology was the least bit sincere.
Now we fast-forward to 2021, and Gaetz is the one under the microscope, facing the prospect of serving the rest of his life in federal prison for trafficking a 17-year-old girl and paying for some of the assignations via the Venmo mobile payment app, meaning he left a record of all his financial transactions.
Gaetz is also getting hit with some enormous payback from Cohen, with the ex-president’s former attorney sending a few tweets that are clearly aimed at the Florida congressman:
Ouch! Now that’s some masterful trolling by Cohen, who has paid his debt to society and noted that he’s eager to help prosecutors who are working to indict the Donald on a laundry list of charges that include fraud and money laundering.
So, Matt, how does it feel to be hit with a giant dose of karma right as your former wingman is cooperating with the feds and spilling his guts about your dirty secrets?
