Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Thursday used his floor time during a House debate on an anti-hate resolution to defend President Trump, saying there is “no Russian collusion.”
The anti-hate resolution stemmed from comments made by freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) that many criticized as being anti-Semitic, but Gaetz argued that the floor debate instead focused too much on Trump.
{mosads}“We are having this debate right now because Democrats had an objection to something said by a Democrat,” Gaetz said. “I hear all the remarks on the floor, and a lot of the substance in the resolution is about President Trump.”
Gaetz then criticized Democrats, saying, “When they’ve got a problem that they can’t solve, it must be President Trump’s fault.”
He added that it’s similar to what he believes is taking place in the House Judiciary Committee, “where there is no Russian collusion, the Mueller report is about to drop, Democrats know it is not going to allege Russian collusion, so they have to launch an 81-pronged investigation to harass our president,” a reference to the investigation the committee recently launched into the Trump administration.
Trump has called the multiple investigations into him “presidential harassment.”
Gaetz recently made headlines for sending what many believed to be a threatening post on Twitter to Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who testified last week publicly before a congressional committee. Gaetz later apologized for the post.
The House passed the anti-hate resolution Thursday in a 407-23 vote. Several Republicans who voted against the measure said it had been watered down and no longer focused on Omar’s remarks.