Matt Gaetz Is Said to Be Investigated Over Possible Sexual Relationship With a Girl,

[draynay]

Riverside is very conservative

Not true, at least not since 2012, Obama, Clinton, & Biden all won Riverside county and CA-41 is represented by Mark Takano an openly gay Democrat. Like a lot of California there are still plenty of conservatives making up a large minority but "very conservative" is not an accurate representation.

[Breccia]

Gaetz claims Democrats are "running scared" of the upcoming election to make Trump the next House speaker.

No, really.

[s_bushido]

Adorable. I’d like to hear him comment on his tour with Greene. Specifically the money aspect of it. Why? Oh, no single reason. More like 225,000 of them.

Getting cancelled by venues in SoCal may have been the best thing that could have happened. Those places ain’t cheap.

I realize that she's a lunatic and he's a complete dumbass...but I'm just baffled that even they couldn't figure out that joining forces would be a terrible idea. Even though we live in the worst timeline, I still don't think there's an alternate reality where two of the worst people in politics teaming up would be beneficial for either of them. But then again, I guess they had to do something, seeing as literally the only people who care that they exist are those who despise them.

[Breccia]

Gaetz and Greene crash a prison.

No, really.

Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Majorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Louie Gohmert (Texas) on Thursday were turned away from the D.C. Department of Corrections where they tried to visit accused Jan. 6 rioters.

Video shows officers, who said the group was trespassing and “obstructing entrance into this facility,” denying the trio entry.

“The supervisor came down and was standing right here and turned her back on me. The other one said she won’t talk anymore and that we’re trespassers,” Gohmert said in comments to the press after the situation.

“We’re in totalitarian, Marxist territory here. This is the way third-world people get treated,” he added.

What are they hiding?

-- Gaetz, on the issue, in a tweet with a video

A spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Corrections (DOC) told The Hill in a statement the trio showed up “unannounced with an unauthorized camera crew requesting a facility tour.”

“By doing so, these officials compromised safety and security operations at the DOC. Safety and security related to DOC’s facilities, staff and residents is a high priority and for that reason DOC has established procedures and protocols related to visits to its facilities. All visitors, which includes family members of residents, attorneys, and public officials, must adhere to the rules and procedures of the DOC,” the statement added.

Let's start with the obvious hypocrisy with "What are they hiding?" when they weren't able to enter a prison unannounced. Also, "What are they hiding?" is a well-known rephrasing of "we don't have any probable cause, but we want to imply there's a problem". You can't just swing by a prison and spur-of-the-moment visit prisoners, and I'm guessing that goes double for elected officials with security teams. Prisons don't do spontaneous. Prisons don't do surprises. They were told they were trespassing and told to leave, which in the mind of a conspiracy-theory suicide cultist, means there's something going on and "they don't want you to see it".

And yet, they want every access to Trump blocked. Jan 6th committtee? I posit without looking that both voted against it, and won't lose a wink of sleep if I'm wrong.

Hey Gaetz, you want to know what's going on inside a prison? Pay a child for sex. That'll get you in.

But now let's move onto the real issue: Gaetz and Greene trying to drive up support for the murderous insurrectionists. They're siding with traitors who attacked...them.

After failing to break into a prison, the pair then held a press conference claiming, without evidence, that the murderous insurrectionists were being treated unfairly. Now, if they truly felt that, they'd have gotten a warrant or made some other legal, proper attempt. Nope. They just wanted to be on camera being told "no, you can't stage a prison break" so they could frame that to Trump's rabid fanbase as "we want to help our fellow traitors to this country".

A follow-up note to at least the Americans in the audience: do not crash a prison. That's a great way to get shot. Personal anecdote, but I happen to be pretty good friends with a max security federal prison guard (that's not his official title, but that's what he was) and while we haven't spoken on this specific issue which just happened, he's made it 150% clear that the most important thing to prison staff is a routine carved in stone. Two Congresspeople showing up with cameras is about as welcome as a balsalmic enema.

[some guy]

So they didn't feel the need to follow rules. The "rules for thee, not me" seems to be the prevailing thinking of the GQP.

Gaetz will hopefully see the inside of a prison soon enough.

[Shadowferal]

Little memo to Gaetz

[Endus]

But now let's move onto the real issue: Gaetz and Greene trying to drive up support for the murderous insurrectionists. They're siding with traitors who attacked...them.

I want to be clear; this qualifies as "giving aid or comfort thereto" under the law, and that means that if any of these insurrectionists get convicted of insurrection, stunts like this are all you need to convict Greene and Gaetz of the same crime.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2383

It's really that simple. You tried to provide aid and support to this guy? Who was convicted of participating in an insurrection? That means you're part of the insurrection, too. You don't need anything else, legally speaking. Just the (hypothetical future) fact that there was an insurrection, legally, and that these two made any efforts to support those who participated at any point leading up to, during, or after the events in question. It doesn't matter if it was before that conviction came down and it was legally defined as "insurrection" yet.

It would be the fastest case ever to try. You'd start in the morning and potentially be done by lunch. It's incredibly simple, and the only point of contest would be whether their actions amount to "aid or comfort thereto". Which is such a low legal bar.

And sentencing doesn't even matter. Even if the issue is super light and the conviction's on a technicality and the judge decides no fine or jail term is required. The other necessary part of a conviction for this particular crime is that nice little phrase at the end; "and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States". That means immediate removal from their positions in Congress, at the point that the gavel lands. They can never run for federal office ever again. Their only real recourse is appealing this conviction, which again, is such a basic set of facts it'll be nearly impossible to appeal.

For a lot of other Republicans, that case might be more problematic to establish. For Greene and Gaetz? It should be trivial at this point. You just need that first insurrection conviction, so the matter of an insurrection is a citable fact of precedent and not a claim that must be proven in their own trial.

[Breccia]

this qualifies as "giving aid or comfort thereto" under the law

They will claim they were just trying to find out "the truth". But I'd love to see them make that case under oath.

[Endus]

They will claim they were just trying to find out "the truth". But I'd love to see them make that case under oath.

Insisting that the "truth" is that the insurrectionists were in the right qualifies as "giving aid or comfort thereto".

Making that claim just a confession of guilt, not a defense.

Once you get that first conviction for insurrection, at least, which is why I'm increasingly pissed that the DOJ won't press those charges. Even as it's called an "insurrection" both by media and Congress.

[Jotaux]

I think that would be a very hard thing to get a conviction on. Its not like they are helping them allude authorities, the traitors are already in jail.

Greene and Gaetz have this bizarre duo. Why are they touring together? Ones a Q anon nutjob, the other is a pedophile.

[Breccia]

Why are they touring together?

They're trying to be the next Trump. They're partnering up, until one thinks they're the star and needs to push the other under the bus.

[Endus]

I think that would be a very hard thing to get a conviction on. Its not like they are helping them allude authorities, the traitors are already in jail.

Greene and Gaetz have this bizarre duo. Why are they touring together? Ones a Q anon nutjob, the other is a pedophile.

"Giving aid or or comfort thereto" is not about helping them evade authorities. It's about any support given to the offenders, practical or rhetorical, successful or not; the crime is in the offering, not the success of the endeavour.

You might have some difficulty applying such charges to conduct before January 6, by pleading ignorance, but you can't possibly make that argument in court for conduct after the events on the 6th. Disagreeing that the event was an insurrection would, itself, qualify as giving aid or comfort to the insurrectionists.

[Edge-]

I do love this sudden concern for "political prisoners" who *checks notes* broke the law and are in jail as a result while they await their court dates if they weren't granted bail because the judge ruled them too much of a risk.

[s_bushido]

I'm starting to think that they don't know what the words "Marxist" or "communist" actually mean. Makes me pine for the good ol' days of 2019 when people like this would whine that the evil leftists called everyone a Nazi.

[Edge-]

I'm starting to think that they don't know what the words "Marxist" or "communist" actually mean.

Considering the discussion in these forums, is that remotely surprising? : P

They've long been buzzwords devoid of any further meaning than, "bad" for Republicans.

Makes me pine for the good ol' days of 2019 when people like this would whine that the evil leftists called everyone a Nazi.

Naw, they've been doing this shit for decades. It predates their pearl clutching over folks calling them Nazi's when they do things like compare a mask mandate to the Holocaust.

[Santti]

Snip

Yeah. Sure. Wanted to check on the January 6th rioters. I'm sure they are all kinds of worried, in how prisoners are treated. How will they ever sleep now, not knowing?

[Jotaux]

"Giving aid or or comfort thereto" is not about helping them evade authorities. It's about any support given to the offenders, practical or rhetorical, successful or not; the crime is in the offering, not the success of the endeavour.

You might have some difficulty applying such charges to conduct before January 6, by pleading ignorance, but you can't possibly make that argument in court for conduct after the events on the 6th. Disagreeing that the event was an insurrection would, itself, qualify as giving aid or comfort to the insurrectionists.

If that is something Greene and Gaetz go to jail for I would seriously question the justice system in the US.

[Endus]

If that is something Greene and Gaetz go to jail for I would seriously question the justice system in the US.

You could have read my prior post where I delineated that the important part was the barring them from holding federal office. But no, you chose to kneejerk over this, and in support of insurrectionists to boot.

If a black kid's gonna do a nickel for a couple grams of weed in their pocket, Greene and Gaetz can do time for trying to overthrow the US Federal Government.

[Jotaux]

You could have read my prior post where I delineated that the important part was the barring them from holding federal office. But no, you chose to kneejerk over this, and in support of insurrectionists to boot.

If a black kid's gonna do a nickel for a couple grams of weed in their pocket, Greene and Gaetz can do time for trying to overthrow the US Federal Government.

I fail to see how a reasonable person could look at them showing up at the prison as trying to overthrow the government. There’s mountains of credible evidence before, during, and after Jan 6, why go off the deepend over this?

- - - Updated - - -

You don't already seriously question the US justice system?

True enough

[Endus]

I fail to see how a reasonable person could look at them showing up at the prison as trying to overthrow the government. There’s mountains of credible evidence before, during, and after Jan 6, why go off the deepend over this?

Are you having difficulty understanding the legal definition of "insurrection or rebellion"? I frickin' linked it.

What they are doing definitionally qualifies as insurrection, if you acknowledge that January 6 was an insurrection. All you're doing is trying to hand-wave that crime.