Gaetz launches six-figure ad in district defending himself

It cuts together a fiery speech that the firebrand Florida congressman gave at a recent Republican event with footage of a Project Veritas expose showing undercover video of a CNN technical director talking about running negative stories about Gaetz “to keep hurting him.”

“Big government, Big Tech, big business, big media, they’d all breathe a sigh of relief if I was no longer in the Congress fighting for you,” Gaetz says in the ad. “They lie about me because I tell the truth about them, and I’m not going to stop.”

GAETZ SET TO KEEP JUDICIARY COMMITTEE POST AMID INVESTIGATION FUROR

“When you see the leaks, the lies, the falsehoods, the smears, when you see the anonymous sources and insiders forecasting my demise, know this: They aren’t really coming for me. They’re coming for you. I’m just in the way,” Gaetz continues in the ad.

The ad ends with a shot of Gaetz hugging his fiance, Ginger Luckey.

In the weeks since news of the investigation broke, no woman has publicly accused Gaetz of wrongdoing.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl or paid for prostitutes to travel across state lines. He asserts that the stories are part of a hit job from the Department of Justice and left-wing media. News of the investigation spurred additional reports of unseemly behavior from Gaetz, including that he showed nude photos of women whom he slept with to other lawmakers, including while on the House floor.

The federal investigation into Gaetz grew out of a broader investigation into Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector in Seminole County, Florida, and a political ally of Gaetz, who was indicted in 2020 on charges including sex trafficking of a minor and financially supporting people in exchange for sex.

The House Ethics Committee has also opened an investigation to “gather additional information” about the allegations that Gaetz “may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct.”

Gaetz previously turned clips from the Project Veritas undercover video alone into a 30-second ad.

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Amid furor over Gaetz and the investigation into him, his congressional office has pushed out several other signals that he is still conducting business as usual.

Last week, his office sent an email to constituents highlighting his comments praising President Joe Biden’s plan of withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and his congressional office tweeted a video of Gaetz speaking in favor of a marijuana banking reform bill.