Henchman Gaetz just following orders
by digby
Of course Trump is the one who told Gaetz to threaten Cohen and say his wife was going to be unfaithful to him while he is in prison. Of course he was:
President Trump called @mattgaetz last night from Hanoi to talk the Cohen testimony and the threats (since rescinded) Gaetz made about Cohen.
"I was happy to do it for you. You just keep killing it," Gaetz was heard telling him.
(Gaetz told me he doesn't discuss calls w/POTUS)— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) February 28, 2019
tracking timing: the tweet in which Gaetz said he apologized to Cohen was sent *after* he talked to Trump and said he was happy to do it.
(I offered Gaetz several chances to refute the comment to Trump, but he left it at saying he doesn't discuss conversations with Trump.)— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) February 28, 2019
After his Tuesday tweet, Gaetz was asked if he spoke to Trump about the Cohen allegations he was making, and Gaetz said: “I think the President’s a little busy saving us from nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula to be worried about my Twitter feed.” https://t.co/6CbjUxbV8Z— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 28, 2019
Gaetz told me two days ago he "100 percent" did not talk to anyone in the White House about his threat to Cohen prior to tweeting it https://t.co/rGrBqa88Gx— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 28, 2019
It would be nice if one of the marginally sane Fox News employees like Chris Wallace would bring this up to Gaetz next time his on there. But they won’t.
I heard somewhere that Gaetz was in the hearing room yesterday and had begged for the chance to get five minutes even though he isn’t on the committee. Obviously, Cummings wasn’t going to let him do that and it’s telling that this disgusting gambit wasn’t taken up by Mark Meadows who instead dragged out Lynn Patten to prove that Trump isn’t a racist. Apparently, this was a bridge too far even for him.
The point of all this, of course, is that Gaetz got it out there, even if he had to apologize for it later and possibly even face sanctions. That’s what a henchman does. Fortunately, Cohen didn’t seem to be rattled by it. After all, he used to be the top henchman himself. He couldn’t have been surprised by it.
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