Matt Gaetz digs his heels in after fundraising PAC blasts his bizarre barcode 'lie'

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Rep. Matt Gaetz speaking at June 2020 event in Phoenix, ArizonaRep. Matt Gaetz speaking at June 2020 event in Phoenix, Arizona, Gage Skidmore

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) went on right-wing podcaster Tim Pool's show and made a bizarre claim alleging that congressional members and candidates wore name badges with QR codes linked to a fundraising PAC.

Gaetz, currently a host on conservative cable network OAN, resigned from his position in Congress in 2024 after President Donald Trump tapped him to become his attorney general. Gaetz eventually withdrew his name from consideration for AG over the pending release of a scathing House Ethics Committee report detailing allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use. That withdrawal effectively ended his stint in Congress.

Sharing a video on X of his appearance on the Timcast News podcast, Gaetz wrote "It was so weird."

On that podcast, Gaetz told Pool, “At my first AIPAC reception, you had to wear a name badge with a QR code, talk to donors, and if they liked you, they scanned it to donate on the spot.”

The podcast said Gaetz's remarks detailed "the surreal, humiliating world of AIPAC fundraisers.”

AIPAC, the American pro-Israel lobbying group that advocates for policies strengthening the relationship between the United States and Israel, is one of the most influential pro-Israel organizations in the U.S., and has been active since the 1950s.

AIPAC continues to support Republican and MAGA-aligned candidates despite recent fractures over Israel's war in Gaza. Some within the MAGA movement have questioned U.S. support for Israel.

“Can you just imagine how demoralizing that is? Hoping they would scan you like a can of tomato soup?” Gaetz quipped on the podcast.

AIPAC replied back to Gaetz on its own X account, saying, "The accusation about our fundraisers is, of course, a lie. Barcodes are on name badges for security reasons, not fundraising, and are scanned for that purpose. Maybe @mattgaetz was confused because he wanted people to scan his barcode, and they didn’t even want to talk to him."

Gaetz then doubled down, replying to AIPAC with his own post on X.

"Are you actually denying that donors scanned people’s name tags to get their donation information?" Gaetz asked. "And, actually, I prefer when nobody talks to me. More time for hummus."

Accusations of antisemitism against Gaetz have been raised by Jewish advocacy groups and others for years, citing a pattern of using or appearing to use antisemitic tropes. In 2018, Gaetz was condemned by the Anti-defamation League for inviting Charles Johnson, a prominent Holocaust denier, as his guest to the State of the Union address.

In 2024, he voted against the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which required the Department of Education to consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism when enforcing anti-discrimination laws.

National Review journalist Mike Coté called Gaetz's latest comments out on X, saying "Matt Gaetz is a key part of the right side of the antisemitic horseshoe. He has been doing this for months now, echoing neo-Nazi conspiracies in the process. This is dangerous rhetoric [and] mainstreams antisemitic lunacy."

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