GaetzGate just got even uglier for Matt Gaetz

Last week the New York Times reported that federal criminal investigators were looking into whether Matt Gaetz was involved in a plot to rig a State Senate election in Florida in 2020. This was notable because three weeks ago, a man named Frank Artiles was arrested for his role in rigging a different Florida State Senate election. Then over the weekend the news surfaced that the arrested man was actually connected to two different rigged elections in Florida in 2020.

At the time, we wondered aloud if Artiles’ two rigged elections were a part of the same rigged election scheme that Matt Gaetz is allegedly involved in. Now it turns out the answer is yes.

Local ABC News affiliate WPLG in Florida has exposed a money trail that connects all three State Senate elections through the same series of Super PACs that were set up for the sole purpose of funding third party sham candidates to take votes away from the Democratic candidate.

This still doesn’t prove that Matt Gaetz was involved in the election rigging plot. He insists he had nothing to do with it. But he’d better hope he’s telling truth, because the rigged election that he’s being investigated for is clearly part of a much larger election rigging scheme. With Artiles having already been arrested, he seems destined to end up having to cut a plea deal, meaning he’ll have to give up whoever else was involved in the scheme.