Bill Maher didn’t shy away from discussing Matt Gaetz’s sexual controversy during a Sunday conversation with the embattled congressman.
In a one-hour segment of the Club Random with Bill Maher podcast, Maher interrogated Gaetz regarding persistent accusations that he had compensated women—including a 17-year-old high school student—for sexual favors.
Gaetz has consistently asserted his innocence regarding all claims.
“So, people are curious about two fundamental questions,” Maher inquired. “First, did he ever engage with an underage female?”
In response to Gaetz’s “No,” Maher promptly highlighted the fact that the Department of Justice concluded its probe into Gaetz without pressing any charges.
“The Justice Department—this is the Biden-era Justice Department—declined,” Maher remarked. “I find it hard to believe that Biden’s Justice Department wouldn’t have pursued you if there was any evidence. So the fact that they stated ‘We found nothing’ implies something significant.”
The DOJ initiated an investigation of Gaetz in 2020 under then-Attorney General Bill Barr after Gaetz’s associate, Joel Greenberg, admitted guilt to a sex trafficking count.
Greenberg acknowledged in a 2021 plea agreement that he financially compensated women and underage girls for sexual encounters with him and other unspecified men.
A sensational report from the House Ethics Committee subsequently exposed messages purportedly indicating how Gaetz and Greenberg sourced women for sexual activities.
Gaetz exited his position as a congressman from Florida last year following President Donald Trump’s nomination of him for attorney general. He later withdrew his name from consideration amid relentless inquiries about the alleged sexual improprieties.
“The [Ethics] committee usually avoids disclosing findings if you’ve already resigned,” Maher remarked to Gaetz. “So why did they deviate specifically for you? You must hold some resentment about that.”
Gaetz claimed he bore no animosity concerning the report’s release, explaining that “everything eventually surfaces in Washington.”
“If you believe that this document wasn’t going to leak in some format, then you don’t grasp how the leak ecosystem functions in that environment,” he stated.
Gaetz then hinted at his ongoing conflict with Kevin McCarthy, implying that the former House speaker he was instrumental in removing was behind the publication of the incriminating report.
“Honestly, I have numerous adversaries among Republicans, more so than the average GOP member, because I dismantled the golden goose,” he stated, referencing McCarthy.
