Texas Congressman Roasts Fellow Republicans on CNN: ‘I Serve With Some Real Scumbags’ | Video
April 21, 2024 @ 10:25 AM
Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales chose to fight fire with fire Sunday morning. During a conversation with CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” Gonzales railed against a number of his colleagues. “It’s my absolute honor to be in Congress,” he said, “but I serve with some real scumbags.”
“Look, Matt Gaetz, he paid minors to have sex with them at drug parties,” Gonzales asserted. “Bob Good endorsed my opponent, a known neo-Nazi — these people used to walk around with white hoods at night. Now they’re walking around with white hoods in the daytime.”
“Look, it didn’t surprise me that some of these folks voted against aid to Israel, but I was encouraged to see by a nearly 10 to 1 mark that Republicans supported our allies on the battlefield,” the military veteran concluded.
A shocked Bash replied, “Wow. OK. I should say that the federal government did look into Matt Gaetz and those allegations, and they decided not to prosecute.”
Bash asked Gonzales if he’s trying to put the members of Congress “in a box.”
“Members… members are tired,” he answered. “We’re exhausted. It has been a brutal Congress.”
“But we’re also dug in. For some reason, these fringe people think as if they have the high ground. They do not. I assure you, the rank and file members that normally are kind of easygoing, doing the right thing, put their head down — they vote yes or no, but they’re not public about it.”
“Those days are over,” Gonzales said. “The fight is here.”
Gaetz announced in 2021 that he was the subject of a Department of Justice investigation for sexual misconduct. He denied the allegations as the New York Times reported the DOJ had launched an investigation into allegations Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a then-17-year-old and paid for her to travel to several states, a potential violation of sex trafficking laws.
Two years later, the DOJ announced it would not pursue charges against Gaetz. CNN legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid told TheWrap that ultimately, “the system” had worked in Gaetz’s favor. She explained, “A lot of people were curious about why that case didn’t go forward — they worried, because he’s powerful and his family’s wealthy, that he was getting off.”
“Here, the system worked — they investigated, looked at the evidence [and] it didn’t have quite enough, so they decided not to go forward.”
Watch the exchange between Gonzales and Bash in the video above.
