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Matt Gaetz targets CNN in new ad to "fight back" against sexual misconduct claims

15 April 2021
 Dan Ackermann

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) announced Wednesday a six-figure ad buy for a spot that takes aim at CNN as part of an offensive to hit back at mounting sexual misconduct allegations, Politico first reported.

Driving the news: Gaetz is under federal investigation following sex trafficking allegations, and the House Ethics Committee has also opened an inquiry. Announcing the 30-second ad, to run in his Florida Panhandle district, Gaetz called on his Twitter followers to "help us fight back!"

  • The Friends of Matt Gaetz campaign committee said in the statement to Politico that the ad was designed to highlight a smear campaign against him, which it added was "aimed at taking out a Congressman of the United States."

The big picture: Gaetz has strongly denied all allegations against him.

  • Two of his senior aides resigned earlier this month over the claims, but Gaetz declared last Friday that he's not "going anywhere" and vowed he had "not yet begun to fight."

Of note: The ad features footage from Project Veritas, a conservative activist group known for using practices considered unethical in journalism, including deceptive editing and spreading disinformation.

  • A man identified as a CNN employee in the ad speaks about the news outlet's coverage of Gaetz.
  • Representatives for Gaetz and CNN did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.