Even Tucker Carlson Thought His Interview With Matt Gaetz About The Sex Trafficking Allegations Against Him Was ‘One Of The Weirdest’ He’s Ever Done

On Tuesday, word broke that Matt Gaetz, noted Trump loyalist, was thinking of leaving Congress to become a full-time Newsmax personality. Mere hours later, The New York Times reported that the Justice Department had spent months investigating his alleged sexual relationship with an underage girl, which may have involved sex trafficking across state lines. But Gaetz’s big day wasn’t over yet. He appeared that night on Tucker Carlson Tonight, where he proceeded to give an interview even his host found bizarre.

It went off the rails pretty quickly. Carlson, eternally sympathetic with conservatives explaining dodgy beliefs, asked him to tell his side, only to receive a suspiciously convoluted story. In it, he alleged he was being extorted by a former DOJ official, who sought $25 million in exchange for making “horrible sex trafficking allegations” disappear. There was some talk about connections to Biden, too.

All the while, Carlson quietly stared at him with his patented furrowed brow and mouth slightly slack-jawed. Eventually Gaetz tried to elicit sympathy from him, casually mentioned that someone once accused Carlson of a sex crime, too — 20 years ago, which were proven untrue. Carlson seemed genuinely taken aback by that reference, but tried to fight through it.

But Gaetz made it worse. He told Carlson about a time he and his wife had had dinner with him and a female “friend” of his, who he claimed was later threatened by the FBI over the same scheme he’s alleging. A genuinely confused Carlson responded, “I don’t remember this woman you’re speaking of in this context at all, honestly.”

There was also something about photos of him with child prostitutes.

Gaetz concluded by claiming he’s being targeted because he’s a “well-known, outspoken conservative, and I guess that’s out of style in a lot of parts of the country right now” — even though the investigation was actually begun by former Attorney General William Barr, in the last months of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Throughout it all, Carlson tried to let Gaetz explain himself, even trying to smooth over some clear concerns he had with what he was saying. But by the time he came back from commercial post-interview, he had to admit it was “one of the weirdest interviews I’ve ever conducted.” He said he didn’t think it “clarified much, even though, he said, “I don’t quite understand it.”

In other words, if even Tucker Carlson can’t help you spin your way out of a salacious story, that means this is only the beginning.

You can watch the full interview in the video above.