Former Pence Aid: Matt Gaetz Will “Be in Prison for Child Sex Trafficking by 2024”... We Got the Latest Odds

Any investigation of Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz remains a tightly kept secret, but at least one former aid to then U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is predicting Gaetz  will “be in Prison for Child Sex Trafficking by 2024”.

For some context, in January 2020, the U.S. Secret Service reportedly received a tip that Gaetz had accompanied Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg to a government office where Greenberg was producing fake IDs approximately two years prior.  Greenberg was indicted in August 2020 on an array of charges, including sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl in 2017. Federal investigators were reportedly looking into Gaetz's September 2018 trip to the Bahamas.

Gaetz claims the allegations against him are untrue and, to date as of July 27, 2022, no charges have been filed against the Republican Florida Congressman. 

It should be noted that, on December 2017, Gaetz was the only representative to vote against the Combating Human Trafficking in Commercial Vehicles Act, a bill allocating additional government resources to help combat human trafficking.

On February 27, 2018, Gaetz voted against the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, which had by then been combined with the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. It passed, 388–25.

Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, made the bold claim during an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett Monday.

Short was specifically asked to respond to Gaetz’s claim at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit that “Mike Pence will never be president” because he’s “not a leader.”

Short responded: “I don’t know if Mike Pence will run for president in 2024, but I don’t think Matt Gaetz will have an impact on that,” Short told Burnett. “In fact, I’d be surprised if he was still voting. It’s more likely he’ll be in prison for child sex trafficking by 2024. And I’m actually surprised that Florida law enforcement still allows him to speak to teenage conferences like that. So I’m not too worried about what Matt Gaetz thinks.”

Whether Gaetz will be walking around in a prison issued orange jump suit come Election Day 2024 remains to be seen.

Gaetz claims none of the allegations against him are untrue.

These were the odds being offered by BetOnline back in 2021:

Will Matt Gaetz be convicted and jailed in 2021?

Yes -120 (5/4)

No -120 (5/4)

(Odds imply a 50.0% chance Gaetz will be convicted and jailed.)

- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com