‘Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.’: Hillary Clinton and Matt Gaetz spar on Twitter

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"Epstein. Flight logs. 26 trips. No Secret Service," the Congressman replied.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz are not averse to Twitter beefs, and Friday saw the two directly engage.

For Gaetz, a second-term Trumpian Republican from the Panhandle, engagement from the former 2016 Democratic presidential nominee can only help further raise his profile.

Clinton spotlighted an article from Yahoo! detailing a scandal about Gaetz allegedly spending taxpayer money on a TV studio at his father’s house.

“Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV,” Clinton quipped, lampooning the current President’s excited recounting of elements on a test he took to ascertain if he was having cognitive difficulties.

Gaetz did not hesitate to fire back.

“Epstein. Flight logs. 26 trips. No Secret Service,” the Congressman replied from his official account.

At this writing Friday afternoon, Clinton had yet to respond regarding her thoughts on the Jeffrey Epstein matter. However, the President surprised many by saying, regarding Epstein collaborator Ghislaine Maxwell, that he “wished her well” earlier this week.

Clinton spotlighting Gaetz’s controversial spending comes in the wake of reporting from POLITICO on this subject, in which the television studio installed at the house of his father, Don Gaetz, was described as a “possible violation of rules.”

“Taxpayers foot the bill to rent the television camera, and the private company that built the studio — which Gaetz refuses to identify — takes a fee each time he appears on air, his office said. It’s unclear how much it cost the private company to construct the studio.”

Gaetz, currently in the minority party in the Democratic-controlled House, asserted that the arrangements were both approved by the House Ethics Committee.

POLITICO charges no evidence of that approval was provided.

The publication couldn’t get anyone on record to denounce Gaetz’s actions, relying instead on unnamed experts to deem the arrangement “extraordinarily unusual” and that it “likely violates the gift ban rule.”

Gaetz has been dogged with similar claims before, and they didn’t go anywhere, including an office lease claimed to be “below-market” by liberal watchdog group Common Cause.

In that instance, Gaetz told a Florida Politics reporter he was not worried that the Democratic majority may make hay of the claim.

“I don’t fear the Democratic majority because I don’t work for them. My bosses are the people of Northwest Florida,” the Congressman said. “They’re very pleased with the feisty representation they are getting.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


3 comments

  • Frankie M.

    July 24, 2020 at 8:07 pm

    Feisty=💩That makes sense if most of his constituents sell fertilizer.

  • Sonja Fitch

    July 25, 2020 at 5:32 am

    Gaetz you act like you jealous! A criminal is a criminal ! Gaetz take that there trump virus and serve and provide for the folks in your district !

  • DisplacedCTYankee

    July 25, 2020 at 7:11 am

    Gaetz has gained national attention for his idiocy; well-played, Panhandlers!

Comments are closed.


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