Scandal

Kansas City’s NBC News affiliate reports: A Missouri state lawmaker exiled from the House Republican caucus over accusations of sexually and physically abusing his children years ago on Tuesday said he will step down. Republican Rep. Rick Roeber in his resignation letter said he will resign Friday. He represents the 34th District in the Missouri House of Representatives. Roeber did …

CNN reports: The first thing some of the women were asked to do when they got to the house parties in the gated community in suburban Orlando was to put away their cellphones, according to two women in attendance who spoke to CNN in recent days. The men inside, a who’s who of local Republican officials that often included Rep. …

Via press release from Minnesota’s Diocese of Crookston: It has been announced today that, after an extensive investigation, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, asked for, and has now accepted the resignation of Bishop Michael Hoeppner from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Crookston. The investigation which led to the acceptance of Bishop Hoeppner’s resignation arose from reports that he …

USA Today reports: Former House Speaker John Boehner, once the nation’s highest-ranking Republican, told USA TODAY that embattled Rep. Matt Gaetz should resign if he is indicted. If the Florida congressman refuses, Boehner said, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy should move to expel him from the House. “When a member gets in trouble, it splashes back on all the members,” …

CBS News reports: House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (Wyo.) said on Sunday that the allegations against one of her harshest critics, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), are “sickening,” but refused to say whether or not he should resign. While appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” host Margaret Brennan asked Cheney if she would call for Gaetz’s resignation. “You know, as …

Politico reports: Rep. Matt Gaetz insists he’s not resigning amid an ongoing federal investigation, but Republicans in his deep red Florida district are already eyeing his seat. Several Republican elected officials and others who live in the sprawling Panhandle district said they received a robo-call over the weekend asking voters if they thought Gaetz would step down due to his …

The Wichita Eagle reports: Kansas Senate Republicans ousted Sen. Gene Suellentrop as majority leader Friday — the first major political penalty paid by the Wichita Republican after he was charged with leading police on a drunken wrong-way chase down Interstate 70. The extraordinary vote by the GOP caucus marked an all-out attempt by senators to separate themselves from Suellentrop, who …

The Washington Post reports: The House Ethics committee on Friday said it would launch an investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who has been accused of sexual misconduct, among a litany of other things. The Justice Department is investigating Gaetz for an alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl. In a statement Friday, the committee chairman said they were aware of …

The Tallahassee Democrat reports: Halsey Beshears, the former head of the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation and a seven-year state House member from Jefferson County, is the third Florida Republican caught up in a federal sex trafficking investigation. The widening probe that stems from irregularities in the Seminole County Tax Collector’s office has placed Beshears on a plane …

Law & Crime reports: One day after his friend Joel Greenberg’s lawyer signaled a potential cooperation agreement could put the congressman in jeopardy, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has revealed hiring high-powered criminal defense counsel: attorneys Mark Mukasey and Isabelle Kirshner. The son of a former federal judge and ex-U.S. attorney general, Mukasey is deeply tied to former President Donald Trump. …

Attention Florida motorists: Embattled Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz is the “star” of a new billboard that proclaims “Matt Gaetz Wants to ‘Date’ Your Child.” The Sunshine State Republican is the subject of an ever-deepening scandal involving allegations of sex trafficking of minors, a fact that Mad Dog PAC founder Claude Taylor highlighted by funding the billboard. Hello, @mattgaetz any thoughts …

Topeka’s ABC News reports: After his arrest at 12:49 a.m. on March 16, the officer’s report reveals that the Senate Majority Leader commented “All for going the wrong way” and referred to him as “donut boy” while in the intoxilyzer room. Suellentrop, 69, refused a breathalyzer test, however, Judge Penny Moylan signed a search warrant for a blood sample. At …

Politico reports: Rep. Adam Kinzinger called on fellow Republican lawmaker Matt Gaetz to resign Thursday night, making him the first Republican to do so since it was revealed that the Justice Department is investigating the Florida congressman over sex trafficking allegations. Kinzinger (R-Ill.), an Air Force veteran and one of former President Donald Trump’s fiercest critics within the party, has …

Mediaite reports: The attorney for an associate to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) suggested the embattled congressman had reason to be concerned that his client was working with prosecutors to build a case against him. “I’m sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today,” Fritz Scheller, an attorney to former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, said in an afternoon …

CBS News reports: Federal investigators are looking into a Bahamas trip Matt Gaetz allegedly took in late 2018 or early 2019 as part of an inquiry into whether the Florida representative violated sex trafficking laws, multiple sources told CBS News. Gaetz was on that trip with a marijuana entrepreneur and hand surgeon named Jason Pirozzolo, who allegedly paid for the …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: While serving in the Florida Legislature, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz opposed a bill meant to stop people from sharing sexually explicit images of their ex-lovers because Gaetz believed that recipients of those images had a right to share them, according to the sponsor of the legislation. Former state Rep. Tom Goodson, a Republican from Brevard County, …

First, a reminder about this guy: Luke Ball, the communications director for Congressman Matt Gaetz, resigned from his position on Friday amid allegations that Gaetz had an inappropriate sexual encounter with a minor and a reported investigation into alleged violations of federal sex trafficking laws. “The Office of Congressman Matt Gaetz and Luke Ball have agreed that it would be …

“It’s got sex, it’s got drugs, it has Matt Gaetz, who is a very polarizing figure and he’s a very staunch supporter of Donald Trump so people either really love him or they really hate him. But I think it’s been really interesting. “Buying expensive gifts for women and sleeping with them – that isn’t illegal. We still need to …

NBC News reports: “Saturday Night Live” roasted U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz following Tuesday’s New York Times report that federal investigators were trying determine if he engaged in sex trafficking or had a relationship with a 17-year-old girl. Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, has repeatedly denied the allegations and said they’re part of an extortion plot in which he’s the victim. …

Axios reports: Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), a freshman who flipped a Democratic seat in 2020, is donating campaign contributions from Rep. Matt Gaetz to an organization that supports victims of domestic abuse. Why it matters: The embattled Florida lawmaker faces escalating political struggles after the New York Times reported Gaetz is under investigation by the Department of Justice to determine …