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A feud between Rep. Matt Gaetz and Sen. Rick Scott has broken into the open, putting two of Donald Trump’s closest Florida allies at war with each other in a state that’s pivotal to the president’s reelection campaign.
After simmering behind the scenes for months, the conflict came to a boil when Scott accused Gaetz of witness intimidation for threatening Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer-turned-congressional-informant, via Twitter.
Gaetz had already apologized for his actions — publicly and repeatedly. Scott decided to pile on anyway against the two-term congressman, 30 years his junior, who’s emerged as an in-state rival for Trump’s attention.
“You might not like what somebody is going to say but you shouldn’t be trying to intimidate them or their family. It’s wrong. I think it’s disgusting. And I’m glad he apologized. But no. I’m very disappointed,” Scott told reporters Thursday.
“If you're trying to intimidate a witness, that's wrong,” Scott continued. “You shouldn't be doing it.”
The broadside highlighted the toxic feelings between the freewheeling Gaetz and the oft-scripted Scott, who seldom speaks ill of a fellow Florida Republican. Once a semi-secret rivalry, the relationship changed in January after Gaetz helped lead the transition team for Scott’s successor, Gov. Ron DeSantis, and publicly criticized Scott for being disrespectful of the new GOP leader in Tallahassee.
“There was no going back after the transition,” said one Florida Republican friendly with both politicians. “They weren’t friends before and I don’t want to call them enemies, because they can still work with each other, but it’s close.”
The clash between the two top Trump surrogates in the nation’s largest swing state — a must-win for the president, who winters there — unfolds as Trump moves to solidify his base. Florida Republican insiders say the feud won’t affect the president’s campaign, but it serves as a telling reminder of the intraparty conflicts that stand to complicate a reelection bid for which the president can’t afford anything but a united Republican Party.
The roots of the strife stretch back more than five years, to Tallahassee, when Scott served as governor. Back then, Gaetz was a state representative and Gaetz’s father, Don Gaetz, was the president of the Florida Senate who clashed with Scott. Two years later, in 2016, Don Gaetz was passed over to become president of the University of West Florida after Scott lobbied the selection committee in favor of another applicant.
“I know he pays off his grudges,” Don Gaetz told POLITICO, adding that Scott’s shot against Matt Gaetz — amid an investigation by the Florida Bar over his comments about Cohen — “did not surprise me. It did disappoint me. But it didn’t surprise me that Gov. Scott took the opportunity to lob a low blow.”
Matt Gaetz, however, had just lodged his own blow against Scott last month when he privately lobbied the Trump administration to block Scott’s former Florida emergency management director who had been under discussion for a Federal Emergency Management Agency job.
Part of the tension between Gaetz and Scott emanates from their proximity to Trump. Both are close to the president. But Gaetz is closer. Over the weekend, for instance, the president pointedly name-checked Gaetz at the Conservative Political Action Conference and not Scott, who has also been a pillar of support for the president since he took office.
Gaetz mentioned his close relationship with Trump when asked to respond to Scott’s criticisms, and drew attention to the role he played during the November Senate recount when Scott barely squeaked by Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
“When I got a call from the Oval Office dispatching me to Broward County to help Rick Scott, I went,” Gaetz told POLITICO. “I wish our new senator nothing but the best.”
As a relatively junior House member in a now-powerless minority party, Gaetz has made unswerving loyalty and access to the president a defining aspect of his service, earning him the Trump-branded moniker of “warrior.” The more reserved Scott — who touts his closeness to the president as well — has a more awkward speaking style compared with the sharp-tongued Gaetz and isn’t on TV nearly as often defending the president.
At times, the two have been able to put their differences aside in the company of the president, with whom they flew on Air Force One to a Tampa rally for DeSantis in July.
While aboard the plane, Gaetz said, Scott was “fumbling through his asks” of the president after opening a large notebook titled “Issues to Discuss with the President on Air Force One” that was filled with maps and engineering drawings of Lake Okeechobee and materials concerning other water-related issues important to Florida.
“The president listens politely for about 30 seconds and then just looks at the governor, looks at me, looks back at the governor and then says, ‘Isn’t Matt Gaetz great on television?’” Gaetz recalled.
Scott closed the notebook.
Other than that anecdote, Gaetz said he doesn’t describe his discussions with the president. Nor does Scott, whose office confirmed the anecdote about the Air Force One flight but said the senator “was proud to work with President Trump to get federal funding to fix the dike at Lake O. Hard to imagine why anyone would criticize that.”
After the general election, the relationship between Gaetz and Scott deteriorated. Gaetz, as one of the chairs of DeSantis’ transition team, accused Scott of making it difficult for the new governor to operate. Scott’s team said Gaetz was causing trouble and exaggerating any differences.
At one point, Gaetz pushed for DeSantis to name a Democrat, state Rep. Jared Moskowitz, to lead the state’s emergency management agency and Scott unsuccessfully tried to prevent the bipartisan pick, according to two sources in the DeSantis administration. A month later, in February, when Gaetz and Moskowitz suspected that Moskowitz’s predecessor at the agency, Wes Maul, was rumored to be in line for a job at FEMA, Gaetz called Trump to block him, the sources said.
Gaetz said he would not discuss any conversation with Trump and a spokesperson for Moskowitz declined comment, as did Maul.
“There’s billions of dollars from the federal government flowing to Florida after the hurricanes,” a DeSantis administration source told POLITICO, “and there’s not the greatest relationship between the senator and the governor. Can you imagine if the senator’s guy held the purse string over this money? It would give the senator a significant leverage point over the governor. You have to understand this is how Matt Gaetz and Jared Moskowitz think.”
However, another top DeSantis administration official said this sounded like a “conspiracy theory” and added that, “yes, there were tensions, but those are gone now.”
Still, the bad blood between Gaetz and Scott lingered until the Cohen controversy revealed it yet again.
Gaetz sought to tamp down the controversy by publicly apologizing for the threat, and countering media reports that accused him of discussing the matter Wednesday night with Trump in an overheard phone conversation. According to Gaetz and a DeSantis spokeswoman, Gaetz was talking to the governor about an airport authority job — the congressman even shared a copy of his call log with reporters to show he was speaking with DeSantis.
But as Gaetz sought to regain his footing — and with the Florida Bar opening an investigation into complaints about his alleged witness tampering — Scott struck his blow, leveling his charges about witness “intimidation.”
Scott’s office this week sought to downplay the severity of his charge against Gaetz, saying the senator’s remarks were merely a response to a reporter’s questions and that Scott appreciated Gaetz’s backing in his 2010 gubernatorial campaign.
“The senator looks forward to working with the entire Florida congressional delegation,” Scott’s office said, “including Congressman Gaetz, to move our state and our country forward.”
Let them rip each others throats out. It will be good for the rest of the country.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/04/trump-allies-florida-gaetz-scott-1202995
After simmering behind the scenes for months, the conflict came to a boil when Scott accused Gaetz of witness intimidation for threatening Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer-turned-congressional-informant, via Twitter.
Gaetz had already apologized for his actions — publicly and repeatedly. Scott decided to pile on anyway against the two-term congressman, 30 years his junior, who’s emerged as an in-state rival for Trump’s attention.
“You might not like what somebody is going to say but you shouldn’t be trying to intimidate them or their family. It’s wrong. I think it’s disgusting. And I’m glad he apologized. But no. I’m very disappointed,” Scott told reporters Thursday.
“If you're trying to intimidate a witness, that's wrong,” Scott continued. “You shouldn't be doing it.”
The broadside highlighted the toxic feelings between the freewheeling Gaetz and the oft-scripted Scott, who seldom speaks ill of a fellow Florida Republican. Once a semi-secret rivalry, the relationship changed in January after Gaetz helped lead the transition team for Scott’s successor, Gov. Ron DeSantis, and publicly criticized Scott for being disrespectful of the new GOP leader in Tallahassee.
“There was no going back after the transition,” said one Florida Republican friendly with both politicians. “They weren’t friends before and I don’t want to call them enemies, because they can still work with each other, but it’s close.”
The clash between the two top Trump surrogates in the nation’s largest swing state — a must-win for the president, who winters there — unfolds as Trump moves to solidify his base. Florida Republican insiders say the feud won’t affect the president’s campaign, but it serves as a telling reminder of the intraparty conflicts that stand to complicate a reelection bid for which the president can’t afford anything but a united Republican Party.
The roots of the strife stretch back more than five years, to Tallahassee, when Scott served as governor. Back then, Gaetz was a state representative and Gaetz’s father, Don Gaetz, was the president of the Florida Senate who clashed with Scott. Two years later, in 2016, Don Gaetz was passed over to become president of the University of West Florida after Scott lobbied the selection committee in favor of another applicant.
“I know he pays off his grudges,” Don Gaetz told POLITICO, adding that Scott’s shot against Matt Gaetz — amid an investigation by the Florida Bar over his comments about Cohen — “did not surprise me. It did disappoint me. But it didn’t surprise me that Gov. Scott took the opportunity to lob a low blow.”
Matt Gaetz, however, had just lodged his own blow against Scott last month when he privately lobbied the Trump administration to block Scott’s former Florida emergency management director who had been under discussion for a Federal Emergency Management Agency job.
Part of the tension between Gaetz and Scott emanates from their proximity to Trump. Both are close to the president. But Gaetz is closer. Over the weekend, for instance, the president pointedly name-checked Gaetz at the Conservative Political Action Conference and not Scott, who has also been a pillar of support for the president since he took office.
Gaetz mentioned his close relationship with Trump when asked to respond to Scott’s criticisms, and drew attention to the role he played during the November Senate recount when Scott barely squeaked by Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.
“When I got a call from the Oval Office dispatching me to Broward County to help Rick Scott, I went,” Gaetz told POLITICO. “I wish our new senator nothing but the best.”
As a relatively junior House member in a now-powerless minority party, Gaetz has made unswerving loyalty and access to the president a defining aspect of his service, earning him the Trump-branded moniker of “warrior.” The more reserved Scott — who touts his closeness to the president as well — has a more awkward speaking style compared with the sharp-tongued Gaetz and isn’t on TV nearly as often defending the president.
At times, the two have been able to put their differences aside in the company of the president, with whom they flew on Air Force One to a Tampa rally for DeSantis in July.
While aboard the plane, Gaetz said, Scott was “fumbling through his asks” of the president after opening a large notebook titled “Issues to Discuss with the President on Air Force One” that was filled with maps and engineering drawings of Lake Okeechobee and materials concerning other water-related issues important to Florida.
“The president listens politely for about 30 seconds and then just looks at the governor, looks at me, looks back at the governor and then says, ‘Isn’t Matt Gaetz great on television?’” Gaetz recalled.
Scott closed the notebook.
Other than that anecdote, Gaetz said he doesn’t describe his discussions with the president. Nor does Scott, whose office confirmed the anecdote about the Air Force One flight but said the senator “was proud to work with President Trump to get federal funding to fix the dike at Lake O. Hard to imagine why anyone would criticize that.”
After the general election, the relationship between Gaetz and Scott deteriorated. Gaetz, as one of the chairs of DeSantis’ transition team, accused Scott of making it difficult for the new governor to operate. Scott’s team said Gaetz was causing trouble and exaggerating any differences.
At one point, Gaetz pushed for DeSantis to name a Democrat, state Rep. Jared Moskowitz, to lead the state’s emergency management agency and Scott unsuccessfully tried to prevent the bipartisan pick, according to two sources in the DeSantis administration. A month later, in February, when Gaetz and Moskowitz suspected that Moskowitz’s predecessor at the agency, Wes Maul, was rumored to be in line for a job at FEMA, Gaetz called Trump to block him, the sources said.
Gaetz said he would not discuss any conversation with Trump and a spokesperson for Moskowitz declined comment, as did Maul.
“There’s billions of dollars from the federal government flowing to Florida after the hurricanes,” a DeSantis administration source told POLITICO, “and there’s not the greatest relationship between the senator and the governor. Can you imagine if the senator’s guy held the purse string over this money? It would give the senator a significant leverage point over the governor. You have to understand this is how Matt Gaetz and Jared Moskowitz think.”
However, another top DeSantis administration official said this sounded like a “conspiracy theory” and added that, “yes, there were tensions, but those are gone now.”
Still, the bad blood between Gaetz and Scott lingered until the Cohen controversy revealed it yet again.
Gaetz sought to tamp down the controversy by publicly apologizing for the threat, and countering media reports that accused him of discussing the matter Wednesday night with Trump in an overheard phone conversation. According to Gaetz and a DeSantis spokeswoman, Gaetz was talking to the governor about an airport authority job — the congressman even shared a copy of his call log with reporters to show he was speaking with DeSantis.
But as Gaetz sought to regain his footing — and with the Florida Bar opening an investigation into complaints about his alleged witness tampering — Scott struck his blow, leveling his charges about witness “intimidation.”
Scott’s office this week sought to downplay the severity of his charge against Gaetz, saying the senator’s remarks were merely a response to a reporter’s questions and that Scott appreciated Gaetz’s backing in his 2010 gubernatorial campaign.
“The senator looks forward to working with the entire Florida congressional delegation,” Scott’s office said, “including Congressman Gaetz, to move our state and our country forward.”
Let them rip each others throats out. It will be good for the rest of the country.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/04/trump-allies-florida-gaetz-scott-1202995
