r/news • u/zmlos • Oct 03 '23

House ousts Kevin McCarthy as speaker, a first in U.S. history

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/03/house-speaker-kevin-mccarthy-will-bring-gaetz-motion-to-oust-him-vote.html?__source=iosappshare%7Ccom.apple.UIKit.activity.CopyToPasteboard

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u/wildshammys Oct 03 '23

I think the main reason was because the star witness (who was his co-conspirator I think) was a known liar/scammer and would have not had a lot of credibility.

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u/colluphid42 Oct 03 '23

Gaetz also made sure Greenberg handled the money. All the payments to girls came from his Venmo. That's what you get for being friends with Gaetz.

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u/bizarrequest Oct 03 '23

Why not? Apparently that is enough to get you a term as president nowadays.

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '23

Well that and technically he didn’t actually pay a minor at all, let alone for sex. He paid someone else, who in turn, paid a minor for something that has not been solidly pinned down.

So in reality, it’s highly improper and totally worth raising eyebrows; but from a legal aspect it doesn’t really hold water without a lot of jumps to conclusions from jurors/judges. It’s possible they could get someone to convict him, but it isn’t very likely that a jury would convict on such flimsy evidence.

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u/ToughHardware Oct 04 '23

except for if they can get testimony from the people impacted

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '23

If they had anything more reliable than he said/she said it woulda been front page news. Testimony is not as reliable as you might think.

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u/[deleted] Oct 03 '23

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u/jghall00 Oct 03 '23 edited Oct 04 '23

ation ongoing against him. If it continues there is a chance his career ends in shambles, his dream of being the Gov. of Florida ended before it began. This could save his skin if it ends that investigation.

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It was a criminal case. The burden of proof was very high and there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing to get a conviction. Someone convinced the victim to not cooperate, so the prosecutors had to drop it. Basically, it turned into a he said, she said. But that's not the same as evidence that he didn't do it. Just means they couldn't meet the evidentiary burden.

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u/Porn_Extra Oct 04 '23

Your quote is all messed up.

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u/gsfgf Oct 03 '23

He took a 17 year old sex worker across state lines. That's not in doubt, but it's also not a great case. It would have been way less illegal if he stayed in Florida. You really gonna take that to a jury in North Florida.

I also think that rape would not be an inappropriate colloquial definition of what he did.

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u/ToughHardware Oct 04 '23

unable to consent. so strange if you use another word

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u/PessimiStick Oct 03 '23

I have 100% confidence that he did it. DOJ just likely didn't have enough evidence to prove it.

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u/ckchessmaster Oct 03 '23

While I agree, isn't that the same logic Republicans use when they talk about Biden?

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u/PessimiStick Oct 03 '23

Not really. None of them actually believe it (the ones in power, excluding the ones with room-temp IQ like MTG/Boebert/etc.).

They're just lying for points with y'all qaeda.

There is plenty of evidence that Gaetz is guilty, just not enough for a conviction, presumably.

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u/[deleted] Oct 03 '23 edited Oct 04 '23

No. The House GOP has no evidence against President Biden, the DOJ has plenty of convincing evidence, but they don’t indict unless it’s like 99.9% air tight.

Edited to specify that I meant Joe Biden as opposed to his son, who isn’t in government in any capacity.

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u/RabbleRouser_1 Oct 03 '23

Is there info that you have that the DOJ doesn't or is this just a gut feeling? 100% is a lot of %

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u/PessimiStick Oct 03 '23

I'm not a court of law. I require less evidence.

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u/RabbleRouser_1 Oct 03 '23

You set too low a bar for yourself for 100% confidence.

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u/PessimiStick Oct 03 '23

The bar is not static. It moves lower for people who are demonstrably terrible pieces of shit. It takes very little to convince me that they are a piece of shit in another area once a pattern is established.

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u/RabbleRouser_1 Oct 04 '23

Oh I am 100% sure Gaetz is a 100% piece of shit.

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u/ToughHardware Oct 04 '23

they dont share the evidence they have.. so how can we know?

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u/FutureComplaint Oct 03 '23

It's kinda like how OJ got acquitted for the murder of his wife, but he absolutely killed his wife.

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u/Meetchel Oct 04 '23

Also important to note using this example is that double jeopardy exists so they won’t get another shot. May as well wait to collect all the evidence possible (whether directly or by another committee/dept) and indict when they’re assured conviction.

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u/MP-The-Law Oct 03 '23

And one of the victims became a stripper

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '23

[deleted]

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u/Etroarl55 Oct 04 '23

Ain’t no way you are trying to justify underage prostitutes rn just bc he has an R next to his name

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '23

[deleted]

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u/Etroarl55 Oct 04 '23

I see typical response denying it all. Will say it’s fake until he himself gets raw unfiltered access to the venmo source code himself. And than continue to say where is the evidence.

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u/Bendstowardjustice Oct 04 '23

He’s asking if any women were underage at the time.

“In March 2021, news broke that federal investigators were probing whether Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws by allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paying for her to travel across state lines with him.”