Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, was cleared by the state bar Wednesday after facing scrutiny over a social media post targeting Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer.
A spokesperson for the Florida Bar’s grievance committee said an investigation found no probable cause to believe that Mr. Gaetz violated its rules of conduct when he called out Cohen on Twitter ahead of the latter’s testimony before Congress.
The Florida Bar will issue Mr. Gaetz a “letter of advice … essentially advising him not to do it again,” spokesperson Francine Walker said in a statement, CNN reported.
“I thank the Bar committee members for their sound judgment,” Mr. Gaetz reacted.
Mr. Gaetz, a staunch supporter of Mr. Trump licensed to practice law in Florida, had risked facing disciplinary action over a tweet he sent on the eve of Cohen testifying in February before a congressional committee investigating the president.
“Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot…,” Mr. Gaetz tweeted Feb. 27.
Mr. Gaetz later deleted the tweet and publicly apologized, albeit not without prompting state and federal probes. In addition to the Florida Bar’s grievance committee, the House Ethics Committee separately launched its own investigation in June into the congressman’s tweet.
Cohen, 52, testified Feb. 28 that Mr. Trump engaged in criminal conduct before and during his time in office and that the president had asked him to pay off an adult film star with whom he allegedly had an affair.
He has since begun serving a three-year prison sentence for campaigning finance and tax and bank fraud violations.
Tom Rust, the ethics committee’s chief counsel and staff director, declined to comment on the status of the panel’s probe.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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