As other allegations against Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Suspect) continue to unfold, the congressman has grown quieter and quieter, while Democrat calls for his removal from committees and resignation grow louder.

From the Intelligencer:

Gaetz’s unusual appearance on Fox News the night the allegations broke didn’t help either, when he suggested that Tucker Carlson knew a woman involved. “You and I went to dinner about two years ago; your wife was there, and I brought a friend of mine. You’ll remember her,” Gaetz said. Carlson denied any memory of it and later described his exchange with Gaetz as “one of the weirdest interviews I’ve ever conducted.”

Republicans don’t know what to expect from further investigation of Gaetz’s personal life, and they have offered him a muted defense. Only a handful of members of Congress have come to his aid, including Trumpist firebrands like Jim Jordan of Ohio and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Now with fresh allegations in the Daily Beast that claim Gaetz paid $900 to an accused sex trafficker, it appears Gaetz has gone radio silent.

In two late-night Venmo transactions in May 2018, Rep. Matt Gaetz sent his friend, the accused sex trafficker Joel Greenberg, $900. The next morning, over the course of eight minutes, Greenberg used the same app to send three young women varying sums of money. In total, the transactions amounted to $900.

The memo field for the first of Gaetz’s transactions to Greenberg was titled “Test.” In the second, the Florida GOP congressman wrote “hit up ___.” But instead of a blank, Gaetz wrote a nickname for one of the recipients. (The Daily Beast is not sharing that nickname because the teenager had only turned 18 less than six months before.) When Greenberg then made his Venmo payments to these three young women, he described the money as being for “Tuition,” “School,” and “School.”

[…]

Greenberg—the former Seminole County tax collector—has now been federally indicted on 33 counts, including sex trafficking crimes involving a 17-year-old. Court documents say Greenberg was “engaged in ‘sugar daddy’ relationships.” And The New York Times says a Justice Department investigation is looking into Gaetz’s involvement in the cash-for-sex ring.

Gaetz and Greenberg are both connected through Venmo to this then-18-year-old woman—who now works in the porn industry, according to a friend of the girl. And on Thursday, Greenberg’s attorney and prosecutors indicated during a court hearing that they expect Greenberg to strike a plea deal, likely meaning he plans to cooperate with investigators.

Mind you, this is the Daily Beast, whose resident NeverTrump editor is a co-founder of the compromised Lincoln Project, and whose publication decided to dox a Spring breaker in order to own Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. So as always with Leftist media, verify before trust, is the order of the day.

However, Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Moral Authority) will take any opportunity to trash a Trump Republican, and he is doing so with Gaetz. Kinzinger has decided to call for his resignation, and the media is treating it like an outcry from the Republican Party as a whole. Trust me, it’s not. You had a bigger outcry from Congressional Republicans to remove Liz Cheney from her committees after her impeachment vote against Trump.

Posted from Kinzinger’s personal Twitter yesterday.

Matt Gaetz needs to resign. https://t.co/AygfqAxQJX via @thedailybeast

— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) April 9, 2021

So far, it’s only Kinzinger. The Trump camp and other Republicans have given muted response or stayed silent, as the Intelligencer article references.

Despite the resignation of Communications Chief Luke Ball, and Legislative Director Devin Murphy, Gaetz’s female staffers have risen to his defense, according to The Hill:

Female aides in embattled GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz‘s (Fla.) office are coming to his defense as the congressman faces a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation over allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a minor and sex trafficking laws.

The staffers said Gaetz has acted professionally in their presence and that they have not seen the GOP lawmaker act inappropriately, and they stand by him.

The statement was not signed by any staffers, and it did not specify how many women in Gaetz’s office had signed off on it. It was signed by “the women of the office of U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz.”

Interesting that The Hill has to make note of the fact that there were no individual signatures. As if they have been blind to the doxxing and outright hatred of the women who came to the defense of then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Or the fair treatment received by anyone connected to or supportive of Trump (nonexistent). But do cast shade.

The article continues:

“After the shocking allegations last week in the press, we, the women of Congressman Matt Gaetz’s office, feel morally obligated to speak out. During Congressman Gaetz’s time in office, we have been behind the scenes every step of the way. We have staffed his meetings. We have planned his events. We have traveled with him,” the women said in a statement released Thursday.

“And we have tracked his schedule. Congressman Gaetz has always been a principled and morally grounded leader. At no time has any one of us experienced or witnessed anything less than the utmost professionalism and respect. No hint of impropriety. No ounce of untruthfulness.”

The aides went on to state that Gaetz — who rose in profile as a regular on right-leaning television and one of former President Trump‘s most vocal allies in Congress — has helped elevate women in the office.

“In our office and under Congressman Gaetz’s leadership, women are not only respected, but have been encouraged time and time again to grow, achieve more, and ultimately, know our value. Many of us started in entry-level positions and have been promoted to positions of leadership within the office. In our professional ecosystem, women are given every opportunity to advance and utilize our talents to help the country in the best possible way,” they continued.

“On every occasion he has treated each and every one of us with respect. Thus, we uniformly reject these allegations as false.