Shelby Talcott on July 16, 2019
Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz has been receiving death threats along with being attacked by Antifa, and went on Tucker Carlson Tonight Tuesday evening to share some of his experiences.
Gaetz spoke to Tucker about some of the threatening messages he has received, with one in particular where a man said he would “blow” Gaetz’s “f***ing head” off. The man in the audio tape was identified, but a federal prosecutor decided not to bring charges, Tucker reported.
“Gaetz, you pathetic piece of s***,” an audio provided by Gaetz played. “Do you know that I could blow your f***ing head clean off your shoulders from over a mile away. Watch your back b****. You pathetic little piece of s***. You got your head so far up Trump’s a**, hahaha, I could still take it off your shoulders. F*** you, Gaetz. I’m coming after you, b****.”
He heard late last week that the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California had “deemed these messages ‘a non-threat,’” according to Gaetz Tuesday evening.
“It’s obviously a crime, a federal crime, to make these types of threats against any federal official,” Gaetz told Tucker. “This Congress, we’re on record for 10,000 threats against members of Congress, and I condemn them whether they’re against Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives.”
“This is just no way to operate within our country.”
Gaetz also spoke about the differences between repercussions for those who have threatened him versus people who have threatened officials such as California Rep. Eric Swalwell and Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar.
“When people threaten conservatives, I hope there’s not a double standard,” he said. “There were even other messages where they threatened my family, Tucker.”
“People on the left want to talk about threats to our democracy – our democracy is served when our representatives have fidelity to the constitution and our constituents,” Gaetz continued.
“When you have to have fidelity to some concern that someone’s gonna kill you, kill your family or harm you at a public event, it erodes the representation that every member of Congress should be able to provide their district, regardless of their viewpoint.”
A few weeks ago, Gaetz was also assaulted by a member of Antifa at a town hall meeting. The person was arrested, and Democratic Florida Rep. Stephanie Murphy condemned the attack, he said Tuesday evening.
She was the only one to do so, Gaetz told Tucker.
Since then, others have come forward to try to promote other attacks on Gaetz, he said, including one of South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s staff, who stated that people should “throw urine” on him.
He has also been labeled an “extremist” by Media Matters, and Mother Jones wrote a hit piece on Gaetz in October 2019, alleging that he “used daddy’s money to become Trump’s favorite congressman.”
“This is no way to get together and solve the problems we have to solve for the country, it’s no way to govern,” Gaetz said. “I wish there would be more partisan support for non-violence.
