In his over 20 year career as a cable news host, Fox News star Tucker Carlson has had some bizarre interviews with politicians, celebrities, and newsmakers.
None were quite like his Tuesday interview with Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-F.L., who appeared Monday on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” to refute allegations of underage sex trafficking.
Gaetz, a prominent conservative in Congress and a close ally of former President Donald Trump, said Tuesday he is being investigated by the Justice Department over a former relationship. He denied any criminal wrongdoing — and in a shocking twist, instead claimed the investigation was part of a multimillion-dollar extortion plot against him.
Gaetz is accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paying her to travel with him, and he is reportedly under investigation to determine if he violated federal sex trafficking laws.
Carlson invited Gaetz on his show to respond to the investigation, which was first reported by The New York Times on Monday.
“This is obviously a serious allegation. Tell us what the truth is from your perspective,” Carlson said.
“It is a horrible allegation, and it is a lie,” Gaetz responded. “The New York Times is running a story that I’ve traveled with a 17-year-old woman and that is verifiably false. People can look at my travel records and see that it is not the case.”
“What is happening is extortion. Of me and my family, involving a former Department of Justice official,” he continued. “On March 16, my father got a text message demanding a meeting, wherein a person demanded $25 million in exchange for making horrible, sex trafficking allegations against me go away.”
“Our family was so troubled by that we went to the local FBI,” Gaetz said. “And the FBI and the Department of Justice were so concerned about this attempted extortion of a member of Congress that they asked my dad to wear a wire — which he did with the former Department of Justice official.”
“Tonight, I am demanding that the Department of Justice and the FBI release the audio recordings that were made under their supervision and at their direction, which will prove my innocence,” Gaetz said. “And will show these allegations aren’t true and were intended to bleed my family out of money.”
Gaetz claimed the former Department of Justice official was set to be contacted by his father on Tuesday as part of the alleged sting operation.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that somehow, tonight, The New York Times is leaking this information, smearing me and ruining the investigation that would result in one of the former colleagues of the DoJ for trying to extort me and my family,” Gaetz said.
Gaetz named former Department of Justice official David McGee, a former top Florida investigator that currently works for a private law firm, as the person behind the alleged plot.
“You’re saying this David McGee was motivated by greed and trying to extort money from your family? That’s his motivation, you’re saying?” Carlson asked.
Gaetz said it was a politically motivated smear, and brought up prior accusations against Carlson that were later proven to be false.
“So, what happens next?” Carlson later asked. “You conceded there is this investigation… I guess this criminal investigation. I’m not quite sure what the sex trafficking part comes in. Again, for the fifth time, I don’t really understand this story very well. But, where does it go from here? You’ve made an allegation against someone by name — on the air — and accused him of trying to extort millions of dollars from your family. What happens tomorrow?”
“What was supposed to happen was the transfer of money to this former colleague that would have implicated current DoJ officials,” Gaetz responded. He called on the FBI to release the alleged recorded conversations to prove his extortion claims.
After thanking Gaetz, Carlson called it “one of the weirdest interviews I’ve ever conducted.”
“That story just appeared in the news a couple of hours ago,” the Fox News star continued. “And on the certainty that there’s always more than you read in the newspaper, we immediately called Matt Gaetz and asked him to come on and tell us more. Which, as you saw, he did.”
You can see the bizarre interview below —
The probe has been underway for nearly a year and Gaetz has reportedly been aware for months that he was under investigation. The Justice Department has also been looking into whether Gaetz, 38, may have also been involved in relationships with other underage girls.
In addition to his appearance on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Gaetz told Axios that his lawyers were informed that he was the subject of an investigation “regarding sexual conduct with women” but that he was not a target of the probe. He denied that he ever had a relationship with any underage girls and said the allegations against him were “as searing as they are false.”
A subject is conventionally thought of as someone whose actions fall within the scope of a criminal investigation, whereas a target is someone whom prosecutors have gathered evidence linking to a crime. But during the course of an investigation, a subject can become a target.
McGee denied the allegations by Gaetz in an interview with The Daily Beast.
“This is a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that Matt Gaetz is apparently about to be indicted for sex trafficking underage girls,” McGee said.
In their report, The New York Times cited three people familiar with the matter, saying the scrutiny was part of a broader Justice Department probe into one of his political allies and fellow Florida politician, Joel Greenberg, who was indicted last summer on sex trafficking and other charges that he stalked a political opponent. A judge ordered the former tax collector back to jail earlier this month for violating the conditions of his release.
“I believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to criminalize my sexual conduct, you know, when I was a single guy,” Gaetz told Axios.
“I have definitely, in my single days, provided for women I’ve dated,” Gaetz said. “You know, I’ve paid for flights, for hotel rooms. I’ve been, you know, generous as a partner. I think someone is trying to make that look criminal when it is not.”
Gaetz has not been charged with a crime. The Justice Department did not immediately comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this article