Matt Gaetz led a campaign to remove US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy from office (French)
Matt Gaetz is an American politician and representative in the House of Representatives, born in 1982 in Florida.
He obtained a doctorate in law and practiced law for a period of time before entering politics.
During the years 2012 and 2014, he was elected as a member of the Florida House of Representatives, then he became a representative in the US House of Representatives in 2016. He is one of the staunch defenders of former US President Donald Trump, and has controversial positions and opinions.
At the beginning of October 2023, Gates announced that he had submitted a request to remove the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, from his position. The House of Representatives was able to remove the president for the first time in the history of the United States of America, after 216 representatives voted on the procedures for removing McCarthy, compared to 210 representatives who voted in favor of His survival.
Birth and upbringing
Matt Gates was born on May 7, 1982, in Hollywood, Florida, to a political family par excellence. His father is Don Gates, a businessman and Republican politician who led the Senate between 2012 and 2014, and his grandfather is Jerry Gates, an American politician whose star shone in North Dakota.
Study and scientific training
In 2003, Gates earned a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Science degree from the University of Florida, earned his Juris Doctor degree in 2007, and a year later joined the Florida Bar.
In 2016, Gates ran for a seat in the US House of Representatives (Reuters)
Practical and political experience
At the beginning of his life, Gates worked as a lawyer in a law firm called Keefe Anchors & Gordon, but the Bar Association suspended him from practicing law in 2021 due to non-payment of fees.
He entered politics early. In 2010, after Republican state representative Ray Sansom resigned on corruption charges, Gaetz decided to run for election to succeed him in the fourth district in the Florida House of Representatives, which included southern Santa Rosa County and Okaloosa County, and he was able to win it with 43% of the vote. votes, beating 4 other candidates.
But in the elections against Democratic candidate Jan Fernald, Gaetz was defeated, as Fernald won 66% of the votes.
During his election campaign, Gates received nearly $480,000 in funding from backers, about 5 times what anyone else in the industry received.
These successes constituted a starting point for Gates, as he was re-elected in 2012 and 2014 as a member of the Florida House of Representatives, and in 2016 he ran for a seat in the US House of Representatives to represent the first congressional district in Florida, and was able to win 69% of the votes.
Overthrow McCarthy
Perhaps Matt Gaetz's most notable moment as a Florida state representative was his contribution to the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The story began when McCarthy concluded an agreement with the Democrats under which he would allow continued funding of the federal administration for a period of 45 days. However, the Freedom Caucus, of which Matt is one of its prominent leaders, rejected this decision, because the bloc refuses to provide additional funding to federal institutions without approving spending cuts.
Therefore, Matt Gates announced at the beginning of October 2023 that he had submitted a request to remove McCarthy from his position based on the decision he issued.
The House of Representatives was able to impeach the president for the first time in the history of the United States of America, after 216 representatives voted on the procedures for removing McCarthy, compared to 210 representatives who voted in favor of him remaining.
A fierce defender of Trump
Matt Gaetz was known in political circles mainly as a fierce defender of Trump.
This was evident in his actions, such as his discussion of the possibility of electing Trump to head the House of Representatives, and nominating him for this position.
Although Gates defines himself as a "libertarian populist," his views indicate his affiliation to the extreme right, and he agrees with his ally Trump on a number of viewpoints on various political and social issues.
Gates, for example, spoke during his 2016 election campaign about the importance of “killing Muslim terrorists and building the wall,” and due to his adoption of Trump’s views, he was called “Trump’s proud student.”
Gaetz also defended Trump on a number of occasions, harshly attacking Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty against Trump in a number of cases.
He published a tweet in which he accused lawyer Cohen of suspicious sexual relations outside of marriage, then he was later forced to delete the tweet and apologize for it after he was attacked by Congress for trying to pressure a witness.
In 2018, Gates voted against the law allowing states and victims to fight online sex trafficking (Reuters)
In May 2018, Gates was one of 18 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in peace talks with North Korea.
In June 2021, Gates was one of 21 Republican members of the House of Representatives who voted against the decision to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the police officers who defended the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
Gates is similar to Trump in his belief that US President Joe Biden is not the right man to lead the United States of America, and therefore Gates was one of the co-sponsors of a resolution presented by actress Marjorie Taylor Greene to impeach Biden in 2021, and in 2022 Gates described impeaching Biden as a “priority.”
His external positions
Matt Gates' views on Middle East issues are consistent with the far-right movement to which he belongs, and he also adopts Trump's views on many of these issues.
In December 2017, he supported Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and said that this move would pressure Palestine to recognize Israel.
In 2019, Gates was one of 60 representatives who voted against condemning Trump’s withdrawal from Syria.
He was also one of the legislators who supported withdrawing American support from Yemen, and canceling the authorization to use American military forces in Iraq.
In April 2019, after the House of Representatives issued a resolution to withdraw American support for the intervention led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Yemen;
Gaetz was one of 9 lawmakers who signed a letter to Trump requesting a meeting with him and urging him to sign Senate Joint Resolution 7, which invokes the War Powers Act of 1973, to end unauthorized US military participation in the armed conflict waged by the Saudi-led coalition. Against the Houthi forces in Yemen.
In June 2021, Gates was one of 49 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to repeal the authorization to use military force against the Iraq Resolution of 2002, which was the authorization approved by Congress in 2002 and on the basis of which American forces launched their war on Iraq.
In 2023, Gates was among 47 Republicans who voted in favor of Resolution No. 21, in which President Biden directed the withdrawal of American forces from Syria within 180 days.
Controversial issues and opinions
Gates is one of the representatives who encourages carrying weapons, even though it is one of the most controversial issues in the United States, especially with the escalation of violence and armed attacks on schools, as a result of which a war broke out between advocates of carrying weapons and those who believe in the importance of restricting the possibility of possessing them.
When Gaetz was in the Florida House of Representatives, he led an unsuccessful effort to allow state residents with concealed weapons permits to carry those weapons openly.
In lobbying for the bill, he said, "Carrying weapons in the open air is a right not given by the government, but by God."
Gaetz has attacked women in his public speeches, mocking obese and “unattractive” women who support abortion rights, saying they are unlikely to get pregnant and therefore have no right to talk about abortion.
Sexual scandals have haunted Matt Gates. In 2021, the Ethics Committee of the US House of Representatives announced the opening of an investigation against him on charges of having a relationship with a 17-year-old minor, as it was alleged that he paid her money in exchange for sexual services.
Among his controversial positions was his vote in 2017 against the Anti-Human Trafficking Law, a bill that allocates additional government resources to help combat human trafficking, and he was the only one to vote against the law.
The following year, Gates voted against the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, which had by then been merged with the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act.
He is also one of the fighters against the presence of immigrants. When announcing his candidacy for Congress, he said that “illegal immigrants are absorbing us badly.” In 2018, he defended Trump’s statement in which he said that Haiti and African countries are “shithole countries,” and justified this by saying that Haiti is covered with metal sheets and garbage, and said These countries are "disgusting."
Source: websites