Former Rep. Matt Gaetz ditched Washington, for now, and has found another landing spot: Cameo, a platform where users pay celebrities to make video messages for them.
The Florida Republican’s move to start a profile on the website came Friday, a day after he withdrew from consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general and hours after he announced that he wouldn’t return to Congress in the upcoming session.
“I served in Congress,” Mr. Gaetz’s Cameo page read. “Trump nominated me to be US attorney general (that didn’t work out). Once I fired the House speaker.”
As of Saturday, Mr. Gaetz was charging $525 and up for a custom video message that could include birthday messages, a pep talk, getting advice or asking Mr. Gaetz to “roast someone.”
His joining of Cameo takes a page from another embattled former lawmaker, New York’s George Santos, who joined the platform after being expelled from the House last December.
Mr. Gaetz’s nomination to lead the Justice Department rekindled interest in a House Ethics Committee probe that centered on allegations of sexual relations with a minor, illicit drug use and obstructing a federal investigation.
Mr. Trump’s move to nominate him led Mr. Gaetz to immediately resign from the 118th Congress, effectively halting the probe and release of the report. Mr. Gaetz was under investigation by the Justice Department for similar accusations, but was never charged.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, prior to his withdrawal, pushed for the report to be released, despite House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, Mississippi Republican, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, arguing that precedent prevented the release of an ex-member of the House.
A pair of House Democrats have put forward similar resolutions that would require the House to vote on whether to force the committee to release the report.
Those resolutions are expected to be considered when lawmakers return to Washington after their Thanksgiving break.
