2022 U.S. Congressional (and Other) Elections

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Voronwë the Faithful
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

One Democrat who will not be seeking Blunt's seat is Claire McCaskill, who Hawley defeated in 2018.

McCaskill responds to Blunt retiring: 'I will never run for office again'

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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by RoseMorninStar »

Sen. Ron Johnson hasn't made a definitive decision about 2022 but I hope he doesn't run again. He needs to go.
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by N.E. Brigand »

Earlier today, Rep. Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, indicated that he was thinking about stepping down from Congress before his current term expires, possibly to take a job as a commentator at the conservative outlet Newsmax.

And then...
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2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by Inanna »

He made himself more eligible for Newsmax? (Super snarky tone).
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

N.E. Brigand wrote:Earlier today, Rep. Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, indicated that he was thinking about stepping down from Congress before his current term expires, possibly to take a job as a commentator at the conservative outlet Newsmax.

And then...
I'm puzzled by why you would post this like this. In any event, I assume that the "and then" that you are referring to is this:

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is said to be investigated over possible sexual relationship with a girl, 17
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by N.E. Brigand »

...and then Gaetz tweeted this about a half hour ago:
Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name.

We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter...


...and my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI’s direction to catch these criminals. The planted leak to the FBI tonight was intended to thwart that investigation.

No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets...


...of the ongoing extortion investigation.

I demand the DOJ immediately release the tapes, made at their direction, which implicate their former colleague in crimes against me based on false allegations.
Yes, if a former Justice Dept. official is extorting a member of Congress, I definitely think we should know more.
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by N.E. Brigand »

...and then Gaetz went on Tucker Carlson's FOX show, named the former Dept. of Justice official (now in private practice) that he claims is blackmailing him, and said that Carlson and his wife two years ago had dinner with Gaetz and a young woman who now, Gaetz says, is being pressured by the FBI to turn on him.
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

What Gaetz carefully avoids mentioning is that the investigation started during the previous investigation, when Bill Barr was still Attorney General. Or that the investigation is related to the charges already filed against a close ally of his, Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector in Seminole County, Florida.
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

And even Tucker Carlson called his interview with Gaetz "one of the weirdest interviews I have ever conducted."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by RoseMorninStar »

Rachel Maddow did a piece on that last night beginning with all of the (truly bizarre) stuff that Joel Greenburg has been charged with. Perhaps this is what the QAnon'ers have been waiting for with their belief in a Trump crusade to 'save the children' from pedophiles claims. It's just not who they were expecting.

Is Gaetz trying to screw up/taint any investigation/trial?
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by River »

I'm not sure he's that strategic. He may just be panicking. Gaetz has an unusual personal life.
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by elengil »

I had to look that up and found this and... :doh:

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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by RoseMorninStar »

A person like that has got to be a psychopath to have the chutzpah to do that kind of stuff and expect to get away with it.
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by N.E. Brigand »

...and then Gaetz's office this morning posted a new listing for internships?

As far as I can tell, this is real:

https://www.daybook.com/jobs/YeLzHozJPwuMNbm3j

I'm not familiar with Daybook, but the firm describes itself as the "premier job search resource for political, policy, non-profit and remote jobs," and there's a link from that listing, which is dated today, to the internship page on Gaetz's congressional website.
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by N.E. Brigand »

...and then Politico reported that Matt Gaetz's father, Don (a former state senator himself), says he did indeed wear a wire for the FBI -- and Matt Gaetz showed Politico a Mar. 25 email from an Assistant U.S. Attorney to his father's lawyer that says:
I can confirm that your client is working with my office as well as the FBI at the government’s request in order to determine if a federal crime has been committed ... This has been discussed with, and approved by, the FBI as well as leadership in my office and components of main justice.
But the same story also includes this:
Barr and the Office of the Attorney General received multiple briefings on the Gaetz probe, beginning in the summer of 2020, a second person familiar with the probe said. They encouraged Florida prosecutors to move as quickly as they needed to and take whatever steps were appropriate. The briefings were consistent with Barr's memo requiring notification to department leadership on probes of candidates. The briefing was important because — among other reasons — Barr didn't want to accidentally appear anywhere with Gaetz, the person said. At one point, Barr was scheduled for a meet-and-greet with Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee. But DOJ canceled his appearance at the event when they saw that Gaetz, a member of that committee, had RSVP'd for it.
I suppose it could be that both stories are true.
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

Here is a link to that Politico story:

https://www.politico.com/states/florida ... en-1370695
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by N.E. Brigand »

...and then the Washington Post reported that the man alleged by Rep. Matt Gaetz to be an extortionist, David McGee (who yesterday was being described as a former Dept. of Justice official, and while it's true that he once was an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he's been in private practice for 25 years), denies having participated in any such scheme, says he did recently have a conversation with Gaetz's father, and adds that he would welcome the public release of a recording of that conversation.

The Post story also says that the Gaetz family describes the extortion attempt as follows: men who "had learned of the investigation" into Matt Gaetz "wrote to [his father] Dan Gaetz" that they "wanted to offer an opportunity to help his son ... He could give a huge sum of money to fund their effort to locate Robert A. Levinson -- the longest held American hostage in Iran whose family has said they were told he was dead. If the operation was a success, he would win favor with the U.S. government and help alleviate Matt Gaetz's legal woes."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... story.html
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by Frelga »

The word "batshit" was invented specifically for this situation.
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by River »

This sounds like the plot to a Coen brother's production. Like I'm sure they're taking notes, right now, and within the next week will be developing a script. Why isn't this in the WTF thread?
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Re: 2022 U.S. Congressional Elections

Post by Frelga »

River wrote: Why isn't this in the WTF thread?
I was going to say, because we might as well collapse the entire forum into the WTF thread, but actually there are parts of reality now that do make some sort of logical sense. Terrifying sometimes, but reasonable.

This isn't that.
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