Florida Bar Investigation Over Threat To Michael Cohen Devastates Matt Gaetz

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Republicans just don’t know when to keep their mouths shut sometimes, do they? This week, ahead of former Trump fixer Michael Cohen testifying before the House Oversight Committee, Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz posted a threatening tweet targeting the now former lawyer — and he’s now facing an investigation from the Florida Bar Association.

Wednesday, during Cohen’s appearance before Congress, Gaetz also faced a call from Vermont Democratic Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett for a House Ethics Committee investigation and even possible criminal prosecution for some form of obstruction of justice or witness tampering. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had similarly previously called for Ethics Committee monitoring of members’ social media usage after Gaetz’s meltdown.

The original tweet claimed, without evidence, that Cohen hasn’t been faithful to his wife and suggested that his wife would soon find out. Pressed for verification, Gaetz offered a simple “we’ll see,” refuting the suggestion that his post constituted witness intimidation. Instead, he claimed, it was “witness testing.”

The Florida Bar Association apparently disagrees with Gaetz’s certainty. Spokeswoman Francine Walker insisted:

‘If rules have been violated, The Florida Bar will vigorously pursue appropriate discipline by the Florida Supreme Court. The Florida Bar takes its responsibility of regulating lawyer conduct very seriously.’

Gaetz earned his law degree all the way back in 2007. A spokesperson for the longtime close Trump ally whined:

‘It seems that the Florida Bar, by its rules, is required to investigate even the most frivolous of complaints.’

Possible witness tampering isn’t exactly frivolous. It’s part of what earned longtime Trump associate Roger Stone a massive FBI team at his door in the early hours of the morning recently. He was arrested on charges also including lying to Congress and obstruction of justice.

Gaetz’s behavior mirrors some that the president and his own team have engaged in. Without any evidence, presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani suggested that Cohen’s father-in-law has ties to organized crime, which President Donald Trump said that authorities should be looking into. Confronted with the president’s behavior, Giuliani said it wasn’t witness tampering or intimidation but self-defense.

In reality, authorities continue to look into the Trump Organization through the lens of Cohen’s long-running stake in the enterprise. He’s reported to have shared information about suspicious potential irregularities at the Trump family business with federal prosecutors, and he’s also shared how he engaged in the documented criminal activity of peddling illegal hush money targeting women with whom Trump had affairs at the president’s direction. Trump helped cover up the scheme with reimbursement for Cohen (who came up with one of the payments himself) including a check he signed while he was in office. He helped cover up a federal crime while serving in the Oval Office.

In other words, Republicans certainly have ample reason to worry. Gaetz eventually apologized for not having “chosen words that better showed my intent,” but not before the damage was done.

Although Gaetz is not a member of the Oversight Committee so couldn’t question Cohen directly, his fellow Republicans no doubt made him proud, taking what Cohen noted as a long time to get around to even asking any questions about Donald Trump this Wednesday.

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