GOP Rep. Matt Kinzinger tweeted a dig at his colleague Matt Gaetz Tuesday, seemingly referencing the Justice Department investigation into whether Gaetz, 38, had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel over state lines, possibly violating federal sex trafficking laws.
It was the latest in a back-and-forth Twitter feud between the two Republican congressmen.
Back in February, Kinzinger quote tweeted a video post from Gaetz’s now-former press officer. In the video, Gaetz discussed Rep. Liz Cheney, who had taken heat from her own party for speaking out against former president Donald Trump.
Kinzinger gloated at the time that Gaetz was wrong about House Republicans having the votes to strip the Trump dissenter of her leadership titles. When the coalition did that just this week, Gaetz quote-tweeted Kinzinger’s old gloat from February, with the caption “tweets that don’t age well.”
“I’d stay away from ‘aging well’ tweets,” Kinzinger suggested, a nod that Gaetz’s old tweets may come back and haunt him.
Kinzinger’s zing took off, racking up nearly 50,000 likes in 12 hours, compared to the 5,000 likes generated by Gaetz’s original tweet.
Gaetz said earlier this year he has no intention of resigning.
The New York Times reported in March that the Justice Department is investigating whether Gaetz, 38, violated federal sex trafficking laws by having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paying for her to travel over state lines. According to the Times, the investigation was opened under Attorney General William Barr in the final months of Donald Trump’s presidency. It’s part of a larger investigation into one of his political allies, a former Florida county tax collector named Joel Greenberg indicted last summer on multiple federal charges, including for the sex trafficking of a minor. Greenberg has pleaded not guilty.
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