GOP FRATRICIDE: Matt Gaetz’s primary challenger asks if he’s the informant against Trump
The GOP continues to eat its own, with the latest on the Republican chopping block being none other than the Ultra-MAGA Florida man himself – Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
Gaetz’s Republican primary challenger, Mark Lombardo, has launched a brutal campaign against the congressman – who’s under federal investigation for child sex trafficking – accusing Gaetz of “putting himself and politics” above Donald Trump and being the informant behind the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate almost two weeks ago.
In a 30-second ad, Lombardo not only throws Gaetz under the bus but questions why one of the former President’s sons – Donald Trump Jr. — is campaigning for the accused sex offender.
“’What’s the real reason Don Jr. is coming to town?’ a female narrator asks over footage of a moving car. An image of the former President with a question mark flashes on the screen as the narrator asks, ‘Is Trump sending him to get the answers everyone wants?’ ‘Is Matt Gaetz the informant?’ the narrator asks. ‘Gaetz hasn’t denied it,’” Florida Politics described the ad’s content.
Lombardo is disputing claims that Trump endorsed Gaetz’s re-election bid and ridiculed the three-term Representative’s failed pardon request:
“When Trump really endorses someone, he goes big,” the narrator in Lombardo’s ad says. “What does Trump know? Is Gaetz the informant?”
“Trump rejected Gaetz’s pardon request,” the narrator states as a “Pardon Denied” stamp flashes over split images of Trump and Gaetz, saying it’s time for Gaetz to “come clean” about whether the congressman “cut a deal.”
Lombardo also criticized Rep. Gaetz for hiring a former attorney for Jeffrey Epstein to defend him in the congressman’s federal case alleging he paid underage girls for sex. Gaetz reportedly paid $25, 000 in “consulting” fees to a New York law firm notorious for its high-profile clients – including Epstein and convicted drug lord El Chapo.
The Trump-loving challenger was quoted in Northwest Florida Daily News as saying:
“The people of Northwest Florida need a Congressman who will put them first. Matt Gaetz is a professional politician who has dishonored his constituents with unnecessary drama, childish gimmicks, and is reportedly entangled in a federal investigation for sex-trafficking a 17-year-old girl to the Bahamas,” Lombardo said. “Displaying the highest level of arrogance imaginable, he hired pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s attorneys and used the money from his hard-working America-first donors to pay the bill.”
A marine combat veteran, Lombardo is campaigning on an “America First” platform and accuses Gaetz of using “poor judgment,” reports The Huffington Post.
Condemning the congressman in an op-ed, Lombardo questioned whether Gaetz could be trusted with national security secrets.
“As a member of the Committee, Gaetz has access to Top Secret, classified information. Anyone who has worked in national security or for the military knows that engaging in prostitution, orgies, sex trafficking, and illegal drug use while holding a security clearance leaves them vulnerable to blackmail by foreign intelligence agents. This is especially true for senior government officials who partake in illicit activities on foreign soil – like Gaetz is reported to have done,” Lombardo wrote.
With the August 23rd primary just days away, the veteran is just the latest to come out swinging against one of the party’s favored candidates with Lombardo’s aggressive attack on one of Donald Trump’s most vocal allies — saying to his opponent that “If Gaetz has nothing to hide, he should have no problem shining a little sun on the backroom deals he was trying to cut to escape prosecution,” to prove he isn’t the Mar-a-Lago “rat.”
Primary races in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wyoming, and Georgia have pitted Republicans against Republicans with former Vice President Mike Pence endorsing opponents of Trump-backed candidates – Gaetz is just the latest on the GOP eats GOP menu.
You can watch Mark Lombardo’s attack ad on Congressman Matt Gaetz below.
Original reporting by Josephine Harvey at The Huffington Post.
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