Two people familiar with the case said Gaetz was trying to plan a visit to Trump after it was first revealed that he was under investigation, but the request was denied by aides close to the former president, who urged Trump to take his neck. not sticking out to defend Gaetz. Harlan Hill, a Gaetz spokesman, said the congressman did not request a meeting with Trump this week.
“Rep. Gaetz was welcomed to Trump Doral this week and has not attempted to meet with President Trump himself,” Hill said in a statement to CNN, claiming that Gaetz “mainly relaxes with his fiancé during the break this week.”
The interference by Trump’s aides indicates that Gaetz is becoming increasingly isolated as he weather a possible career-ending scandal just months after he offered to leave his plum job in Congress to join the 45th president’s defense team. . Trump has issued just one statement about Gaetz since the public first learned about the Congressman’s role in a sex trafficking investigation in early April. In it, Trump ever denied having received a blanket petition for clemency from the 38-year-old congressman, noting that Gaetz denied the allegations against him.
After repeated requests for comment, Trump spokesman Jason Miller wrote in a tweet Sunday night that Gaetz had not asked for a meeting “and therefore it could never have been denied.”
Federal investigators are investigating allegations that Gaetz had sex with an underage girl who was 17 at the time and other women who were given drugs and money in violation of sex trafficking and prostitution laws. Federal investigators are also trying to determine whether Gaetz received travel and women in exchange for political favors as part of a wider investigation, people familiar with the investigation tell CNN.
Gaetz has continued to deny all charges against him and has not been charged with any crimes.
Incidentally, the ex-president has been silent since he released the two-sentence message last week. Speaking to deep-pocketed GOP donors at his Palm Beach club on Saturday, Trump dropped Gaetz when he checked many of his best Republican defenders by name – from South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and former White House Chief of Staff Mark. Meadows to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, according to two people familiar with his comments.
Trump’s failure to mention Gaetz was considered striking by some in the crowd, given the congressman’s inordinate loyalty to the former president and the litany of other Republicans Trump shouted during his speech.
Meanwhile, Gaetz’s performance on Friday at a conference for pro-Trump women raised eyebrows in the former president’s orbit. Aides saw his last-minute speech at the Women for America First event, held at the nearby Trump National Doral resort, as a blatant attempt to reach out to Trump and his supporters.
One person directly involved in Trump’s post-presidential operation said the ex-president’s aides “had the impression that Gaetz was going there to try to bump into Trump or those around him.”
Announced as a “special guest” just days before the summit, Gaetz used his time onstage to denounce “wild conspiracy theories” about his personal life and his plans to stay on Capitol Hill. , confirm again.
“I’m built for battle, and I’m not going anywhere,” he told the crowd.
Gaetz has already received calls from a Republican colleague, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, to resign his congressional seat and has received virtually no support from Trump’s orbit. The Florida firefighter, known for having few friends in Washington, is also at risk of losing his commission assignments, depending on the investigators’ findings, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox News last week.
This story has been updated with commentary from a Trump spokesman.
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