Wednesday on FNC’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) returned to the program for the first time in one year and maintained the Department of Justice was targeting him for his stance critical of the DOJ and the FBI.
Once again, the Florida congressman insisted he was innocent.
Partial transcript as follows:
CARLSON: So you were described in The New York Times by the Justice Department as a felony sex criminal. Have you been charged? Do you expect to be charged for felony sex crimes?
GAETZ: No, this was an operation to destroy me, to harm my family, to hinder my ability to serve the district and the movement that I represent in Congress. And we all know there is a pipeline of leaks and lies that flow from the Justice Department to the mainstream media, The New York Times in particular, and that is not even a partisan criticism of the Biden administration. That happened during the Trump administration as well. We saw it during the Russia hoax.
But the most important update, the most important thing that’s happened since our last on-air discussion, someone has been indicted and has pled guilty to trying to shake down my family based on this pile of lies, and so I’m not going to allow it to hinder me. I’m going to continue the important work that I do here in the Congress for my constituents.
CARLSON: Yes. So I’m not going to ask any questions about your personal life, because it’s not my business. It’s really simple. If you’ve committed a crime, let them charge you. And they haven’t and they’ve smeared your name, again, your private life, it is your business. Whether you committed a crime or not, it is everybody’s business and you haven’t, and I just want to ask you one more time crisply, and clearly, do you expect to be charged for the crimes of which they’ve accused?
GAETZ: No, that would be a travesty. I’m innocent. I have maintained my innocence. I have been entirely consistent on this fact. And each and every day, the lies about me unravel and are debunked. And the things I’ve said and admittedly, it’s pretty wild to come on your show and say that my family is being shaken down for $25 million by some fraudsters, some with connections to the Intelligence Community and the Department of Justice. But in fact, someone has pled guilty to just that.
So I feel vindicated each and every day that the facts are revealed, but I don’t want this to be a distraction from the critically important work going on in the Congress that my constituents expect me to dig in on.
CARLSON: Well, you can’t allow the Justice Department to silence sitting Members of Congress with fake allegations of sex crimes, and again, if the allegation is real, let them prove it. That’s their job, not ours.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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