Rep. Matt Gaetz is taking a page from Donald Trump’s playbook by fundraising off his recent sex scandals.
Gaetz, who is under federal investigation for sex trafficking of a minor and prostitution, accused the media of “publishing lies to try to take me down” and dragging “my dating life into their political attacks.”
In a fundraising letter addressed to “patriots” the Florida congressman framed the allegations as a smear campaign by the media against him to “end my career fighting for the forgotten men and women of this country.”
“But the truth is, the mainstream media is publishing lies to try to take me down while covering up real scandals like Hunter Biden’s deals in Ukraine and Gov. Cuomo’s attempted genocide against nursing homes,” Gaetz said in the email obtained by Talking Points Memo. “It is a shame that the left tries to drag my dating life into their political attacks, but its no surprise–when your ideas suck you have to stoop this low.”
A button at the end of the message directs the reader to “click here to fight back against the fake news.”
[READ: I’m “not a monk”: Matt Gaetz says he won’t resign amid sex scandals.]
As he struggles to keep his political career alive, he has so far received almost no public support from his congressional Republican colleagues and none from Donald Trump.
