Barely per week after successful the presidency, President-elect Donald Trump made his shock announcement that he would nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., for legal professional normal
A couple of hours later, Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., praised the choose.
“Everybody who’s served with him will let you know he’s probably the most clever members of Congress,” Johnson mentioned in remarks to the media Nov. 14. “He’s an completed legal professional. He’s very involved concerning the lawfare that’s been occurring within the Division of Justice below the Biden administration.”
The half that caught our ear was that Gaetz was “an completed legal professional.” Gaetz jumped into politics in his late 20s, and his authorized résumé consists of lower than a decade of personal apply.
The extra normal profile for an incoming legal professional normal in latest a long time is previous expertise as a choose (corresponding to Merrick Garland, Eric Holder, Michael Mukasey and Alberto Gonzales), a senior federal or state prosecutor (Garland, Jeff Classes, Loretta Lynch and Janet Reno), a senator (Classes and John Ashcroft), a governor (Ashcroft and Richard Thornburgh), a White Home counsel (Gonzales), a senior Justice Division appointee (Invoice Barr), or some mixture of those roles.
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We dug into what Gaetz’s profession as a younger lawyer within the Florida Panhandle entailed.
Gaetz, 42, is finest identified for his profession in politics. At 27, he gained a seat within the Florida state Home and served from 2010 to 2016. At 34, he superior to the U.S. Home, serving from 2017 till he resigned Nov. 13, shortly earlier than the announcement of his nomination by Trump and days earlier than a Home Ethics Committee may have launched a report on Gaetz. (He had simply gained a brand new two-year time period on Election Day.)
Gaetz turned nationally identified for his appearances on Fox Information, for being investigated by the Justice Division, for controversial feedback corresponding to blaming left-wing antifa protesters for the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and for calling abortion-rights supporters “disgusting” and chubby. Gaetz gained extra consideration for shifting to oust then-Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in 2023, which led to weeks of voting for a brand new speaker till Johnson managed to win a majority.
PolitiFact has rated 15 statements by Gaetz since 2011; 4 rated Half True or higher. He made six False claims, together with that “one out of each 5 people who the federal authorities fees with homicide is an unlawful alien.”
Gaetz additionally was investigated for intercourse trafficking by the Justice Division, however he denied wrongdoing and has mentioned the probe ended with no federal fees towards him. Individually, the Home Ethics Committee has investigated him for years over allegations together with sexual misconduct; the destiny of that investigation is unclear provided that Gaetz has left the Home and is not below the Ethics Committee’s jurisdiction.
He earned a regulation diploma from the Faculty of William & Mary in 2007 and was admitted into the Florida Bar in 2008. He labored for the regulation agency AnchorsGordon (beforehand often known as Keefe, Anchors & Gordon) in Fort Walton Seaside, Florida, which is a part of the congressional district Gaetz represented.
To gauge the scope of Gaetz’s authorized profession, we regarded via court docket data for the Florida Bar; Fort Walton Seaside’s Okaloosa County and neighboring Walton County; MyFloridaCounty.com; and the authorized web sites Justia and CourtListener.
Messages left at Gaetz’s former Home workplace, Johnson’s workplace, AnchorsGordon, and the Trump marketing campaign and transition press workplace weren’t returned.
We discovered that Gaetz argued not less than seven instances in his residence county on a wide range of issues; that he was 2-0 in appellate instances; that he’s been delinquent on his bar dues however is present now; and that he acquired a essential letter from the bar however was not formally disciplined. He additionally had greater than a dozen traffic-related fees, about half as an adolescent and half after he turned a lawyer.
Gaetz was the legal professional of file in not less than seven instances on the trial court docket stage
From 2009 to 2016, Gaetz argued not less than seven instances on the trial stage in Okaloosa County. (For a part of that point, Gaetz was serving within the Florida Home, however working as a lawyer isn’t uncommon for a legislator; Florida has a part-time Legislature, so it’s widespread for legislators to maintain day jobs.)
The seven instances in court docket data ranged extensively in substance. In 2008, Gaetz represented two separate purchasers for dashing tickets. In 2009, he represented a neighborhood restaurant, the Crab Entice, in a staff’ compensation case. That very same 12 months, he started representing a neighborhood plane upkeep firm that was pursuing a negligence case.
Beginning in 2009, he represented Okaloosa County in a civil case towards town of Valparaiso. In 2010, Gaetz represented a shopper over a cash dispute of lower than $15,000. And in 2016, he represented a shopper concerned in a custody case.
We have been unable to entry a full listing of instances in neighboring Walton County, however he additionally had not less than yet one more case because the legal professional of file in that jurisdiction.
Gaetz may additionally have labored on different instances for extra senior legal professionals on the agency with out being famous as an legal professional of file. Not all the things a lawyer does leads to court docket, so Gaetz was possible engaged on different purchasers’ authorized enterprise exterior of court docket instances throughout his time with the agency.
“Some junior legal professionals do nothing however authorized analysis, so Rep. Gaetz’s file on the agency isn’t uncommon,” mentioned Dave Aronberg, the state legal professional for Palm Seaside County, Florida, and a former Democratic state senator. “I knew Matt within the state legislature, however I by no means heard something about his authorized profession.”
Gaetz took two instances to enchantment and gained each instances
In one case, plaintiffs James and Melanie Nipper appealed a trial court docket ruling barring them from working a skydiving enterprise on their 290-acre farm in Walton County. With Gaetz because the lead legal professional, the appeals court docket introduced that it was overruling the trial court docket in January 2017, across the time Gaetz was beginning within the U.S. Home.
Within the different appeals case, Gaetz represented Suzanne Harris, who had sued Walton County for hiring an legal professional with out the general public notification required below Florida’s “sunshine” transparency regulation. Harris had gained on the trial stage and the appeals court docket upheld the choice. The case sprang from the county’s actions throughout a controversial land buy.
Gaetz has at instances been delinquent in his Florida Bar dues, however he’s updated now
In 2021, when Gaetz was serving in Congress, The Each day Beast reported he had didn’t pay his Florida Bar dues, making him “delinquent” and “not capable of apply regulation in Florida.” After the preliminary model of the article appeared, Gaetz paid his dues and was restored to good standing by the Florida Bar, The Each day Beast reported.
Right this moment, Gaetz stays a “member in good standing” and “eligible to apply regulation in Florida,” in line with the bar’s web site.
No formal disciplinary file, however a essential letter from the Florida Bar
Gaetz has no formal disciplinary file with the Florida Bar, however a committee took him to activity in a letter after he appeared to threaten former Trump attorney-turned-critic Michael Cohen earlier than Cohen testified to Congress in 2019.
Gaetz tweeted, “Hey @MichaelCohen212. Do your spouse & father-in-law find out about your girlfriends? Perhaps tonight can be a very good time for that chat. I ponder if she’ll stay devoted while you’re in jail. She’s about to be taught quite a bit…”
This drew a grievance to the bar. Gaetz deleted the publish and apologized to Cohen and then-Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
The committee concluded that though he didn’t violate the bar’s guidelines, it didn’t condone his actions.
“Whereas your conduct on this occasion didn’t warrant formal self-discipline, the grievance committee believes it was not in line with the excessive requirements of our career, and in mild of the general public nature of your feedback, your actions don’t replicate favorably on you as a member of The Florida Bar,” the committee wrote.
Gaetz instructed the Pensacola Information Journal on the time that he was happy with the committee’s choice.
“I crossed the road,” Gaetz mentioned. “I walked it again and apologized. No guidelines have been damaged. I am more than happy with the end result and I am at all times grateful after I get recommendation from my fellow attorneys and constituents.”
Gaetz was a defendant in 12 Okaloosa County visitors instances, six whereas he was a lawyer
Half of the 12 instances Gaetz was listed as a defendant in Okaloosa County have been when he was an adolescent. Twice in 2000 he confronted dashing fees. In 2001, he confronted dashing fees twice, as soon as with the extra cost of failing to obey a visitors management system. In 2001, he additionally confronted one cost of failing to stick to a seat belt regulation.
The opposite six instances got here after he had handed the bar, from 2008 to 2015.
Probably the most severe got here in 2008, when he confronted a DUI cost; it was later dropped. That very same 12 months, Gaetz had separate fees for dashing and driving a car in an unsafe situation.
In 2013, he was charged with dashing. In 2014, he was charged with careless driving, and in 2014, he was charged with failure to offer insurance coverage.
Past the dropped DUI case, Gaetz usually paid the high quality and didn’t contest the instances.
Gaetz was additionally charged with dashing in a single Walton County case in 2007.
PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
