‘He’s an A**hole’: CNN Guest Gives Highly Nuanced Explanation for Why Matt Gaetz’s Nomination Will Fail

Matt Gaetz has an asshole problem, according to Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha.

Gaetz was nominated as attorney general by President-elect Donald Trump last week in a move that stunned the political world.

The former Florida congressman resigned from the House last week just two days ahead of an Ethics Committee vote on whether to release the findings of its probe into him. A witness testified to the committee that she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old in 2017 at a party where drugs were present. Gaetz was in his mid-30s at the time. With his resignation, the committee declined to move forward with the vote on whether to release the report. However, Democrats and even a few Republicans are calling for it to be made public, or at least the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will weigh his nomination.

Last year, the Department of Justice investigation declined to bring charges after conducting its own investigation.

Gaetz denies wrongdoing.

On Monday’s CNN NewsNight, Rocha predicted that the salacious allegations against the former lawmaker will take a back seat to what will eventually sink the nomination.

“What happens if [Trump] loses Gaetz?” guest host John Berman asked. “Does it leave a sting?”

“I don’t think so,” Rocha replied. “And I also don’t think Gaetz doesn’t get it because of a sex scandal. I think Gaetz specifically doesn’t get this because he’s an asshole to people, and people in the Senate don’t like him.”

Gaetz raised the ire of many Republicans last year when he filed a motion that triggered a vote on whether to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy that ultimately succeeded thanks to Gaetz, a handful of Republicans, and all Democrats voting for removal. The House was thrown into chaos and took three weeks to choose a successor.

At this year’s Republican National Convention, Gaetz sought out McCarthy to mock him.

“What night are you speaking? Are you speaking tonight?” he said, getting in McCarthy’s face. “If you took that stage, you would get booed off of it.”

That didn’t sit well with one member of the Republican National Committee.

“Shut up, Gaetz,” Richard Porter told him. “Don’t be an asshole.”

“Dude, I don’t even know who you are, man,” the Florida man said.

“It doesn’t fucking matter who I am,” Porter replied. “Don’t be an asshole. You’re an asshole.”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), who served with Gaetz in the House, also doesn’t think much of him. Last year, he told CNN that Gaetz would show colleagues photos of women he had sex with.

“[W]e had all seen the videos he was showing on the House floor that all of us had walked away, of the girls he had slept with,” Mullin said. “He bragged about how he would crush E.D. medicine and chase it with energy drinks so he could go all night.”

Watch above via CNN.