Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., claims he was on the phone talking about an airport board recommendation with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when he said “I was happy to do it for you,” and not with President Trump talking about Michael Cohen as a reporter had previously indicated.
In a Fox News interview Friday, Gaetz said he had been on the phone with DeSantis outside of the Longworth House Office Building when he said “I was happy to do it,” referring to an Orlando airport board referral.
“I wasn’t talking to Donald Trump,” Gaetz said. “At 8:37 p.m, I was – I got a phone call from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Ron DeSantis and I spoke for 13 minutes, and he was calling to thank me, not about Michael Cohen or pay off some porn stars, but because I had made a recommendation to him for someone to serve on the Orlando Airport Board, a friend of mine named Randall Hunt (ph).”
That contradicts tweets from Edward-Isaac Dovere, a staff writer at the Atlantic, who said Gaetz was overheard speaking to the president Wednesday evening. Dovere said Gaetz was talking to Trump about his threatening tweet about Cohen and the former Trump lawyer’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee earlier that day.
President Trump called @mattgaetz last night from Hanoi to talk the Cohen testimony and the threats (since rescinded) Gaetz made about Cohen.
“I was happy to do it for you. You just keep killing it,” Gaetz was heard telling him.
(Gaetz told me he doesn’t discuss calls w/POTUS)— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) February 28, 2019
Marc Caputo, a reporter for Politico, said DeSantis confirmed the call took place Wednesday evening and the words were spoken by Gaetz.
DeSantis spox: “The governor can confirm those were the words that were spoken to him”
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) March 2, 2019
The night before Cohen’s testimony, Gaetz asked Cohen on Twitter, “Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot…” Gaetz later deleted the tweet and apologized for it, but not before Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., suggested it be examined by the House Ethics Committee. Later, it was reported the congressman became the subject of a probe into his tweets about Cohen by the Florida state bar.
Dovere never indicated whether he was the individual who overheard Gaetz’s phone call, and appeared to only make the connection that the conversation was with Trump because the congressman told him later when asked about the call that he doesn’t discuss his calls with the president.
Gaetz said on Fox News “what’s crazy” is that DeSantis also informed the Atlantic that the call took place, but Dovere or the outlet still have not issued a retraction or taken down “their allegation.”
Asked if he has proof, Gaetz said, “yeah, absolutely,” but did not offer any on air.
