GOP Begins to Turn on Matt Gaetz as Republican Rep Calls for Resignation

The saga of Congressman Matt Gaetz is turning ever more tawdry by the minute, as the Florida Representative finds himself in the middle of a strange tale involving underage girls, sex traffickers, the FBI, and extortion plot, and a missing American military member.

The story is absolutely absurd, to the point at which Hollywood would likely have panned the plot as “too unbelievable” for a movie.

But the scandal is very, very real, and it has begun to weigh on the minds of Gaetz’s fellow Republicans.

Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger became the first congressional Republican to call on his colleague from Florida, Rep. Matt Gaetz, to resign in the face of a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations.

“Matt Gaetz needs to resign,” Kinzinger tweeted Thursday night, linking to a Daily Beast article about allegations against Gaetz, the details of which CNN has not confirmed.

The moderate Illinois Republican has been a frequent critic of his own party, especially its embrace of Donald Trump and the former President’s lies about election fraud.

No charges have been brought against Gaetz, and he has denied all allegations against him. Staring down those allegations, the Florida Republican has been reaching for a familiar, in-your-face strategy perfected over the last four years by Trump, who fueled his unconventional rise.

Gaetz has insisted that he would “absolutely” not resign, and has even used the controversy as a fundraising tool in recent days.