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Ex-congressman makes surreal appearance at Pentagon briefing one year on from dropping out of contention to be next U.S. attorney general amid lurid allegations over his private life
Joe SommerladWednesday 03 December 2025 10:03 GMTComments
CloseRelated: Matt Gaetz withdraws consideration to be next U.S. attorney general
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Former Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz cut an unlikely figure as he attended a Pentagon press briefing Tuesday, just over a year after he was forced to drop out of contention to be the next U.S. attorney general.
Now an anchor on One America News Network, Gaetz, 43, had been a long-time MAGA ally of President Donald Trump in the House of Representatives when he was nominated to lead the Justice Department in November 2024, only to step aside a week later when it became clear that several past scandals threatened to derail his confirmation. The job ultimately went to Pam Bondi.
Gaetz resigned his seat to be considered for the honor and subsequently sought to reinvent himself on OANN. This process culminated in his appearance at the Department of Defense briefing alongside other MAGA influencers like Laura Loomer, Jack Posobiec, and James O’Keefe, all of whom had benefited from the traditional press pool’s refusal to comply with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s pledge to report only on pre-approved information.
Lifestyle website The List referred to Gaetz as looking “scruffy” during the press conference.
open image in galleryEx-congressman Matt Gaetz, now a journalist at One America News Network, asks a question at a Pentagon press briefing on Tuesday December 2, 2025 (Department of Defense)Sporting a black jacket that still had “Representative Matt Gaetz” emblazoned on the right breast, Gaetz used his appearance to ask departmental spokesperson Kingsley Wilson about the Trump administration’s aggressive stance towards Venezuela.
“If Nicolas Maduro leaves Venezuela today, what role will the Department of Defense have in a post-Maduro Venezuela?” he asked Wilson.
“And describe the process the administration will use to determine whether or not current members of the Venezuelan military or Venezuelan government have a role in a post-Maduro Venezuela?”
Wilson responded: “Thanks for the question. So the department has a contingency plan for everything. We are a planning organization. If anything were to happen around the world, we have a response planned and ready. So we stand at the president’s beck and call, our commander-in-chief, to do what is needed if called upon.
“And that will be what this department continues to focus on and continues to prepare for in regards to our ongoing operations in the SOUTHCOM region. Again, our focus is taking out narco-terrorists and rooting out that threat that is poisoning the American people. Every single boat that we strike saves 25,000 American lives. That is a crucial mission to protecting the homeland, and we’re proud to be a part of it.”
In a follow-up question, Gaetz asked: “Quickly, so, you know, following the departure of Saddam Hussein, there was this desire to name every Ba’athist a terrorist. Does the administration take the view that any person who served in the Venezuelan military or Venezuelan government is definitionally a narco-terrorist?”
Wilson answered: “That would be a determination for the president to make, but I can tell you that every single person who we have hit thus far, who is in a drug boat carrying narcotics to the United States, is a narco-terrorist. Our intelligence has confirmed that, and we stand by it.”
open image in galleryGaetz speaking at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July 2024 (AFP/Getty)Gaetz continues to be dogged by questions about his past and was forced to deny accusations from a woman who alleged he had paid her to have sex with him when she was 17 years old, homeless, and trying to save money to buy braces.
“I never had sex with this person,” Gaetz told The New York Times. “This person threatened me with a lawsuit if I didn’t pay her $2.3 million. She never sued me because her story is fiction.”
Gaetz’s decision to drop out of the running for attorney general late last year came amid lurid allegations about his private life, including that he paid more than $90,000 to several women through a series of Venmo and PayPal transactions, often arranged on the website SeekingArrangements.com with his now-imprisoned former ally Joel Greenberg, according to reports.
The House Ethics Committee finally published a long-delayed bombshell report into his alleged misconduct last December that concluded: “There is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”
Gaetz said at the time: “In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated – even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years. I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18.
“Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court – which is why no such claim was ever made in court.”
He added that his 30s “were an era of working very hard – and playing hard too. It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”
Gaetz went on to file a federal lawsuit against the committee alleging that the publication of “potentially defamatory statements” against him was “unconstitutional” because he was, by then, a private citizen, not an elected official. However, there was a precedent for the panel doing so.
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matt gaetzPentagonDepartment Of DefenseJustice DepartmentDonald TrumpPete HegsethPam BondiHouse Ethics CommitteeVenezuelaNicolas MaduroLaura LoomerJack PosobiecMAGAJoin our commenting forum
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