Seth Meyers roasted Matt Gaetz for his failed eight-day run to become Donald Trump’s attorney general, marking one of the quickest withdrawals from a cabinet nomination in US history.
On Thursday’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, the comedian skewered the former Florida congressman after he dropped out of the confirmation process to head up the Justice Department following resurfaced sexual misconduct claims.
One allegation, which Gaetz denies, is that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl on more than one occasion.
“Matt Gaetz is out? But his nomination was only eight days old,’ Meyers said.
“Once again, he can’t even make it to 18,” he quipped.
Meyers also mocked Trump’s statement praising Gaetz for “doing very well” following his announcement that he was dropping out.
“Yeah, sure, dude, he dropped out because he was doing so well,” Meyers said. “This is like the Jets holding a press conference to say they have plans for Super Bowl weekend.
“Yeah, we’d love to come, but we have a wedding,” he joked.
In another punchline, Meyers focused on the bombshell diagram leaked from the Justice Department investigation into Gaetz, which alleges there was a web of payments between the former congressman and friends and associates said to have been with him at drug-fueled sex parties.
The meticulously detailed diagram, obtained by the New York Times, was assembled by federal investigators during the sex-trafficking investigation into Gaetz.
It charted how he and his associates allegedly sent thousands of dollars via Venmo to dozens of people who were reportedly involved in the sex parties between 2017 and 2020, based on testimony to federal and congressional investigators, the Times reported. Gaetz vehemently denies all the accusations and has not been charged with a crime.
The complex diagram was like “the creepiest edition of Where’s Waldo I’ve ever seen,” Meyers joked.
In his opening monologue, Meyers also roasted fellow cabinet picks Robert F Kennedy Jr who he referred to as “the world’s most famous hotel for brain worms,” and Kristi Noem for “bragging about murdering her dog.”
At the end of his show, Meyers took a more serious tone. “The Gaetz fiasco should serve as a reminder to everyone that politics and journalism still matter,” he said.
“Just because Donald Trump narrowly won a close election in a very divided country, an election in which he got less than 50 percent of the vote, doesn’t mean he’s invincible.”
Meyers added: “When they try to do unpopular stuff like make an accused sex trafficker the attorney general, they’re going to face headwinds and blowback, and an organized, energetic opposition can take advantage of that to stop or at least slow down their toxic agenda.”
