After Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz decided to post the tweet that may have likely ended his career a few days ago, he defiantly left it up for hours and hours (and hours) despite literally everyone in the universe informing him that it plainly constituted witness tampering in a federal investigation — he threatened former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen prior to his congressional testimony with a vague promise that his life was about to be ruined through personal revelations.
No doubt the Republican was shocked to find that, unlike the President, he doesn’t just get to say whatever he wants and have everyone pretend it’s normal. Instead, he was immediately under investigation by watchdog group The Democratic Coalition, and by the end of the day on Wednesday, even the Florida State Bar was looking into his actions.
It could be, however, that Rep. Gaetz just didn’t care, that he fulfilled his mission and made the one person in his life he cares about most happy: Donald Trump.
President Trump called @mattgaetz last night from Hanoi to talk the Cohen testimony and the threats (since rescinded) Gaetz made about Cohen.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
Call happened at just before 9 PM last night DC time, which means that the president was making this phone call as he headed into his meetings with Kim for the day (Hanoi is 12 hours ahead), which of course seem to have fallen apart not long after https://t.co/XmG3ywhEDz
— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) February 28, 2019
As it turns out, Gaetz denies having spoken to the President (of course), but back in the real world he was starting to feel the pinch — enough that he deleted the original tweet to Cohen and apologized. But he refused to comment further to Dovere, a reporter for the Atlantic, beyond saying that he would not comment on a conversation with Trump:
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
So was Trump aware of Gaetz’ intentions before he sent the tweet? Was he congratulating him on a mission accomplished? If that wasn’t the case, the phrasing of Gaetz’ response to the President — “I was happy to do it for you” — suggests a level of familiarity that even Michael Cohen was describing during his testimony. If he was doing it “for” Trump without even being asked, did Gaetz just unwittingly underscore Cohen’s testimony about Trump being able to convey his wishes without having to be explicit in them?
It certainly looks like it to the rest of us.
Featured image via screen capture
