Tag Archive: William Barr

In Matt Gaetz sex scandal, Twitter leads the way

Rep. Matt Gaetz (right) on Fox News, protesting a bit too much.

Unless you have been in a cave with no media whatsoever, you are no doubt aware that U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida is in a heap of potential trouble. The U.S. Justice Department, beginning with the Trump administration last year, reportedly has been investigating Gaetz over allegations that he engaged in a sexual relationship with one or more 17 year-old girls (which, for Gaetz, would be a felony in Florida) and that he engaged in illegal interstate sex trafficking of these girls. Much of this news has been received this week via Twitter, for example, from sources such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Yesterday, a video of Gaetz quickly spread on Twitter in which he talks about casting the sole “No” vote in the entire U.S. Congress on the 2017 Combating Human Trafficking in Commercial Vehicles Act:

Twitter is also the place where readers have been reminded that Gaetz has a boy, “Nestor,” living with him, whom Gaetz claims is his “son,” although there is no legal status that declares Nestor to be Gaetz’s son.

https://twitter.com/richardhine/status/1377070860473864195

Perhaps not coincidentally, it has also been reported this week, and widely distributed on Twitter, that Gaetz is thinking of resigning from Congress, or at least not running for reelection, to go work for right wing media outlet Newsmax.

https://twitter.com/darinself/status/1377016224987676677

While these charges against Rep. Gaetz are very serious and sad, many Twitter users have also been able to create some of the most brutal and often hilarious mockery against him. Check out some of the best examples after the jump:

Donald Trump’s attack on social media free speech doesn’t pass the SMELL test

Donald Trump whining about Twitter looks like this

On Thursday, just two days after being fact-checked on Twitter, Donald Trump signed an Executive Order which attempts to regulate free speech on social networks. Specifically, Trump’s Order tries to “clarify” a federal law passed by Congress in 1996, the Communications Decency Act, by taking away free speech protections that the law granted over online platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and other social media. Trump’s Executive Order further provides:

The (Attorney General’s) working group will also monitor or create watch-lists of users based on their interactions with content or other users.

Essentially, Trump, with the assistance of U.S. Attorney General William Barr, wants to compile a Nixon-style “enemies list” of people who write unflattering things about Trump or other Republicans, and then punish them. This idea, which we call the Social Media Enemies Lengthy List (“SMELL”), as part of Trump’s attempt to trample on the legislative power of Congress, doesn’t pass the smell test, either legally, constitutionally or otherwise. In fact, it is a weak, laughable move that will likely blow back in Trump’s face.

House impeachment hearing galvanizes media and public attention

U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff

The U.S. House of Representatives has wasted no time after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump on Tuesday. Yesterday, the House Intelligence Committee held a public hearing featuring Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire. The subject of the hearing, which was carried on virtually all of the cable TV news channels plus C-SPAN, was the just-released Whistleblower complaint against Trump, his attorney Rudolph Giuliani, U.S. Attorney General William Barr, and possibly others.

The Whistleblower complaint alleges that Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zolensky to investigate activities of Joe Biden and his son Hunter, in return for U.S. military aid to Ukraine, and then sought to hide the record of Trump’s phone call, as well as Trump’s calls with other foreign leaders, on a separate, secret electronic server. The complaint contains other related allegations as well, and, for some members of Congress, was apparently the last straw that influenced them to support the House formal impeachment inquiry. Just this week, the slowly building stream of House members supporting the impeachment inquiry became a waterfall, jumping by some 75 to reach 218, the majority number needed to vote to impeach Trump or other federal officials.