Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) thoroughly humiliated himself during a session of the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, quoting from a Chinese state-run publication to “prove” that U.S. aid to Ukraine was being used improperly.
Gaetz was questioning Colin H. Kahl, Under Secretary of Defense, and he asked the official:
“How about CIA? Are they training folks in Ukraine?”
Kahl replied:
“Not going to talk about that in an unclassified setting. Happy to talk about that further in the classified briefings.”
Gaetz then inquired, “Is the Azov battalion getting access to U.S. weapons?”
Kahl:
“Not that I’m aware of, but. If you have information…”
The Florida Republican announced:
“I intend to enter into the record The Global Times investigative report that talks about training. It’s from the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Research Lab. Citing the Azov battalion was even getting stuff as far back as 2018.”
After the article had been entered into the record, Gaetz asked Kahl:
“Any reason to disagree with that assessment?”
Kahl responded:
“Is this the, I’m sorry, is this the Global Times from China?”
Gaetz: “No, this is…”
Kahl: “Well, that’s what you read.”
Clearly unsure of what he had read, Gaetz was forced to admit, “Yeah, it might be, yeah. Would that be a reason?”
Kahl told the congressman:
“I as a general matter, I don’t take Beijing’s propaganda at face value.”
Rather than move on, Gaetz asked Kahl: “Yeah. Just tell me if. If the allegation is true or false, I mean.”
Kahl reiterated what he had just said:
“I don’t have any evidence one way or the other. As a general matter, I don’t take Beijing’s propaganda at face value.”
Before moving on to another topic, Gaetz remarked:
“Fair, fair enough. I would agree with that assessment.”
Could it be any clearer that Matt Gaetz is a complete idiot?