It appears that disgraced former Representative Matt Gaetz has found his new job: anchor on One America News Network.
CNN reports that Gaetz is set to join the pro-Trump network after his bid to be attorney general collapsed under a mountain of drug and sexual misconduct allegations outlined in a buried House Ethics Committee report. It’s the second post-Congress gig for Gaetz, who last month announced that he was setting up an account on the celebrity video website Cameo.
Gaetz will apparently be hosting his own show on OANN, and a webpage bearing the name The Matt Gaetz Show is already live on the outlet’s website. OANN is not widely carried on cable and satellite television, and it was dropped by DirecTV in 2022. The network encourages viewers to stream its programming online.
Last month, Gaetz alluded to his new job in an interview with conservative personality Charlie Kirk.
“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” Gaetz told Kirk.
If Gaetz were to return to Congress, his Ethics Committee report could be released, further damaging his image and political future. His role in the successful effort to unseat former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was actually connected to the misconduct allegations against him, according to McCarthy.
In an interview on Fox News Sunday, McCarthy said Gaetz has himself to blame for his nomination failing.
“I blame Matt Gaetz for lying to [Donald Trump] about his ethics report,” McCarthy said, making the case that Gaetz convinced the president-elect to appoint him as attorney general so that he could quit Congress and try to sink the Ethics Committee report against him. McCarthy also claimed Gaetz backed his ouster because of the report.
“People know that’s why he’s not capable of even staying in Congress,” McCarthy said. “He needed an excuse to resign because the ethics report would be done in a couple days.”
