WASHINGTON — Elected officials are quickly responding to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) after he spread rumors that there are five "assassination teams" working throughout the United States with the aim of taking out former President Donald Trump.
Gaetz claimed in a press release Monday that he has a "whistleblower" who is a senior Homeland Security Department official sounding the alarm about the "teams" that aim to take out Trump. Three of the five are from foreign governments, Gaetz told controversial former Associated Press reporter John Solomon.
“… this individual was coming to me, concerned that the force protection around President Trump, even prior to that second assassination attempt, was not sufficient for what it needed to be, and the coordination at that level, at the dignitary protection level is like the bare minimum that we have to do to keep our presidents, our presidential candidates, safe while they’re on the trail,” the Florida congressman said.
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But Gaetz's colleagues don't buy it.
Speaking to Raw Story on Wednesday while walking through the House tunnel, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) said, "It's just garbage."
After a potential shooter was spotted outside of Mar-a-Lago complaining about Trump's position on Ukraine, Gaetz claimed that the man, Ryan Wesley Routh, was caught at the border returning to the U.S. from Ukraine. The only news sites willing to publish Gaetz's claims have been right-wing websites. There are no reports of Routh being "at the border." After international travel, he would have gone through Customs and Border Protection at the airport. That has been used to claim that one of the international teams is from Ukraine.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), similarly said that she's never heard of any accusations about such claims.
"Well, there's a lot of crazy stuff being said these days, you know, about people eating pets and other things," Lofgren told Raw Story while on her way to vote on legislation.
"I've never heard of anything like that, and I don't believe it's correct," Lofgren said.
Gaetz isn't on the House Intelligence Committee, which has access to official intelligence gathered from the U.S. and international community about such matters. Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA) is, however, on the committee.
"I have not heard anything like that," Bera told Raw Story while walking through the Capitol. "He might have an active imagination, I don't know."
He suggested that Gaetz "ask for Congress to have a classified briefing or come into the Intelligence Committee," to hear accurate information.
"It's what we've come to expect from Matt Gaetz," Bera said. "It is dangerous."
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, refused to comment on the matter when asked. He confirmed only public information that Iran had potential assassins in the U.S. eager to take out Trump.
He was asked multiple times about whether Gaetz's comments were "dangerous" but refused to comment.
Long-time Democratic lawmaker Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) simply laughed.
"I didn't hear that," the former House Majority Leader said. "So let me look into it."
Raw Story pointed out that Gaetz put the information on his official government website.
"I don't check that much," Hoyer confessed.