House Republicans are not rushing to defend embattled Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.
The three-term lawmaker, facing a federal sex trafficking investigation, “won’t last long,” a Republican member of Congress told The Hill, stating that Gaetz’s days on Capitol Hill are numbered.
A member of the GOP House of Representatives told The Post that the allegations against Gaetz are “despicable.”
“Right now it seems that at best, he ends up leaving Congress in disgrace and at worst, he ends up in prison,” the source said. “He’s trying to tweet the whole situation, but it doesn’t seem like he’s doing very well. … We would like this problem to go away. “
While none of Gaetz’s Republican colleagues have actively asked him to resign, evidence of discontent is mounting.
House Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters this week that the allegations against the congressman were “serious.” California Republican Rep. David Valadao made Gaetz campaign donations to victims of domestic abuse, Axios reported.
Former Republican Representative Barbara Comstock has I called for him to leave.
Gaetz, one of former President Trump’s closest allies in Congress, has long been a divisive figure in his party and has particularly upset many of his colleagues for his attacks on his fellow lawmakers.
In January, Gaetz organized a rally in Wyoming to criticize US Representative Liz Cheney, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his role in the January 6 insurrection on the US Capitol. She played an active role in a failed internal House effort to strip her of her leadership role as president of the Republican conference.
Gaetz, who says he will not resign, has denied allegations that he paid to have sex with minors and says he is the victim of a baroque extortion plot.