This Matt Gaetz employee is a self-described 'raging misogynist' who claimed 'slavery was voluntary'

14 March 2023

Despite being the subject of a sex trafficking investigation, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) was reelected by a landslide in the 2022 midterms. The far-right MAGA Republican, in fact, won by an even greater margin than two-term GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis. While DeSantis defeated Democrat and former Republican Charlie Crist statewide by 19 percent, Gaetz defeated Democratic challenger Rebekah Jones by around 35 percent in Florida's 1st Congressional District.

The 40-year Gaetz, now serving his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, has not become any less controversial. According to Daily Beast reporter Roger Sollenberger, Gaetz's new legal counsel in his Washington, D.C. office, Andrew Kloster, is a self-described "raging misogynist" who once said that "slavery was voluntary."

In an article published by the Beast on March 14, Sollenberger reports, "(Kloster) seems to find a particular thrill in controversy, which he often folds into his brand of 'new right' contrarian conservatism. But Kloster's online rhetoric frequently veers from controversial into off-putting, offensive, and outright bizarre. And he hasn't let his employment in Congress get in the way."

On February 3, according to Sollenberger, Kloster tweeted, "You know what I need? I need a woman who looks like she got punched." That tweet has since been deleted, as has Kloster's "raging misogynist" comment.

Kloster, Sollenberger notes, has "a history of deleting" offensive tweets "in response to media inquiries." His comment that "slavery was voluntary" has also been deleted.

"Kloster — a graduate of New York University School of Law and a former clerk with the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals — is hardly a political neophyte," according to Sollenberger. "The bios on his Federalist Society contributor page and an official government site tout the positions he held in Donald Trump's administration, including posts as associate director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel and deputy general counsel in the Office of Personnel Management, where he was eventually promoted to acting general counsel. President Joe Biden quickly ousted Kloster from his holdover Trump-appointed sinecure at the Administrative Conference of the United States."

On February 15, NBC News reported that according to attorneys for Gaetz, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had ended its sex trafficking investigation of him and would not be charging the MAGA congressman with any federal crimes. But other Gaetz-related controversies persist.

Sollenberger observes, "Kloster's hiring in Congress coincides with reports last month revealing that Gaetz had honored a man accused of murder who has yet to face trial, inviting him to lead the House Judiciary's inaugural Pledge of Allegiance. Gaetz has since apologized, including to the victim's family, reportedly telling them his office fired the people in charge of background checks. But questions remain about how Gaetz and his office missed that little smudge on the man's record."

Read the Daily Beast's full report at this link.

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