Bizarre Gavin Newsom conspiracy theory

Matt Gaetz defends Biden with bizarre Gavin Newsom conspiracy theory

Eric Ting

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is such an enemy of the "deep state" that he's willing to say the Democratic president he wants to impeach is getting unceremoniously screwed over by the shadowy cabal.

The Republican lawmaker appeared on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle" Thursday night and floated a conspiracy theory that the "deep state" — a term for government officials who occupy rank-and-file positions in agencies such as the FBI, Department of Justice and CIA — is trying to remove President Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 presidential election to clear the way for California Gov. Gavin Newsom to become the Democratic Party's nominee for president.

Gaetz offered no evidence for such a charge but was generally dismissive of claims of serious wrongdoing levied at Biden over his handling of classified documents as vice president, saying that Biden's lawyer was "rummaging around his stuff looking for ... evidence of a crime his septuagenarian client committed nine years ago." The Justice Department appointed a special counsel to investigate the matter, and it seems the words "special counsel" still mean "deep state coup" to Gaetz, who first gained national prominence by railing against special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into former President Donald Trump's ties to Russia.

"Maybe the deep state and a lot of these Democrats have figured out that they'd rather roll with Gavin Newsom than Joe Biden," Gaetz said. "The Republicans might not even have to help the Democrats take out their trash."

Host Laura Ingraham simply smiled as Gaetz did his best Charlie Day impression and then played a clip of Biden appearing with Newsom at a press briefing in Santa Cruz County on Thursday when the pair surveyed storm damage. After the clip, she tried to move the conversation back to a more comfortable topic of conversation for Fox: Biden's mental capabilities.

"Now, Congressman, first of all, Gavin Newsom is ominously standing right behind him, which is kind of eerie, but he seems to be cracking up in front of our eyes, President Biden," she said. "He's glued to his briefing paper. He seems kind of out of it after he gives a few remarks. He still seems sort of lost on stage."

Gaetz, however, wanted to return to trashing the deep state.

"Joe Biden's mad, and he should be," Gaetz said. "His own Department of Justice is now criminally investigating him, his own staff put him in a terrible position by sitting on this information, and his own lawyer was searching around for the evidence of a paperwork crime from almost a decade ago. So I get why Joe Biden's mad, and you could see Gavin Newsom's thought bubble in the background. He's actually measuring the drapes inside the Oval Office right now."

Newsom has reportedly told Biden he will not challenge him in 2024, and Biden allies are saying that the document probe won't change his plans to formally announce he's seeking reelection sometime after his State of the Union address on Feb. 7.

In other words, the deep state is going to have to work a lot harder.