Matt Gaetz has announced that he will be pressing charges against a Florida woman who threw a drink at him over the weekend. Gaetz believes there could be an “escalation” if people aren’t charged for their crimes, and he wants to nip these things in the bud lest the offender will be emboldened, the congressman (who may have his own legal troubles) argued with no sense of irony whatsoever.
“We were enjoying catching up with new friends and old, and folks recognized me. And so we were taking pictures and having polite conversations. And as I was chatting with one gentleman, a lady threw a drink on the both of us and she was promptly arrested,” Gaetz revealed in a video posted to his Twitter account. After detailing the alleged incident, Gaetz justified pressing charges by delineating the difference between protected speech like shouting and throwing objects.
Via Mediaite:
Gaetz said that he would never want anyone to be in harm’s way.
“But if we start allowing stuff to be thrown or hurled, if we allow people to be harmed, there is a severe risk of escalation and accident. And we don’t want to see anyone in harm’s way, whether it’s family members, supporters, or even our detractors,” Gaetz said.
The Waltons County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that 41-year-old Selena Chambers was charged with “battery on an elected official” over the weekend, and Gaetz made it a point to note her “left wing” politics during his Twitter video.
“Her stuff is not exactly my type, it seems after the 2016 election, based on some of her writing, she became very obsessed with Donald Trump,” Gaetz said. “She’s also a donor to the Joe Biden presidential campaign. As she talked about her emotional turmoil following the 2016 election and just going through some of the stuff she’s written. It is really bizarre. She writes about feminist surrealism.”
(Via Mediaite)