Matt Gaetz might be trying to distract us with talk of extortion whenever someone brings up him being investigated for sex trafficking underage girls, but don't take the bait. The extortion story has nothing to do with it.
His father, Don Gaetz may have been approached by a couple of shady dudes via text message about a missing FBI agent, but that is not connected to Matty's DOJ troubles in any way, shape or form. It's just a happy coincidence for Gaetz the younger that Papa Gaetz also has weirdo connections looking for a missing-likely-dead FBI agent in all the wrong Gaetzes. (If, indeed, that is what's going on.)
According to the Washington Post:
The men who approached Gaetz’s father, people familiar with the matter said, had no apparent connection to the sex crimes investigation of his son, other than having somehow learned about it before it was publicly reported. But when news of law enforcement’s interest in Gaetz surfaced Tuesday, the congressman asserted that the allegation was “rooted in an extortion effort against my family for $25 million,” and he identified by name a former federal prosecutor who he said was part of the effort.
That's a red herring too, by the way, that former federal prosecutor, David McGee. He has nothing to do with any of this, other than a connection to the missing FBI agent's and his family. Matty just threw his name out there as a distraction, as far as anyone knows. McGee firmly denies being one of the men who approached Papa Gaetz, or being part of any extortion effort whatsoever. He insisted, "It’s a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that he’s [Matt Gaetz is] under investigation for sex trafficking of minors. I have no connection with that case at all, other than, one of a thousand people who have heard the rumors."
Even if there really were extortion attempts, it's highly unlikely to be connected to Matt Gaetz's extracurricular activities with underage girls. It's even less likely that Papa Gaetz's forking over money to these dudes would help make an investigation into Matt Gaetz go away in Merrick Garland's DOJ.
Substantiating criminal charges in the extortion probe could be difficult, people familiar with the matter said, noting that, when the two men — who have not been identified — first contacted Don Gaetz, they did not explicitly threaten to expose the congressman unless they were paid. Even if investigators do come to believe there was an attempt to extort the Gaetz family, it appears connected to the sex-crimes investigation only because the men involved discovered it and used it as leverage for personal purposes, people familiar with the matter said.
In other words, a lucky coincidence.
