Matt Gaetz joining One America News as anchor after AG derailment
Ex-Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz — whose nomination as US attorney general got derailed last month by sexual misconduct and drug abuse allegations — is getting his own show on One America News Network.
The move was announced by OAN on Tuesday morning following a report from CNN, which broke the news Monday night.
According to OAN, “The Matt Gaetz Show” will kick off in January at 9 p.m. ET every weeknight.
The right-leaning network didn’t provide more details on the show’s format.
“OAN is blazing a trail in media, embracing not just traditional news but the platforms where Americans are going—streaming, apps, podcasts, and social media,” Gaetz said in a statement. “I couldn’t be more thrilled to join OAN’s forward-thinking team and be part of this revolutionary expansion.”
Gaetz will also co-host a weekly podcast with Dan Ball, host of “Real America with Dan Ball,” that will “deliver fresh perspectives and unfiltered conversations tailored for Millennials, late Gen Z, and early Gen Xers.”
Gaetz made headlines when he decided to withdraw his nomination as Attorney General last month after it quickly became clear that he could not win over enough skeptical Republican senators to be confirmed.
That was due in part to a pending House ethics report into allegations that Gaetz had engaged in sex with a minor, used illicit drugs and taken bribes, among other alleged crimes.
Shortly after, the 42-year-old Republican announced he was not returning to Congress next year.
“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” he told conservative activist Charlie Kirk in an interview last month.
“I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress,” he said. “I plan to be a big voice, but maybe not as an elected member of the government.”
Elected to Congress in 2016, Gaetz has denied the allegations investigated by the Justice Department and the committee, including the claim that he had sex with a woman in 2017 when she was a minor.
Since resigning from Congress last month, Gaetz has joined the celebrity video message platform Cameo, where he sells personalized video messages.
“I served in Congress. Trump nominated me to be US Attorney General (that didn’t work out). Once I fired the House Speaker,” Gaetz’s bio on Cameo says, referring to his role in ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year.
The addition of Gaetz –a major voice in the Trump camp — is a big win for the far-right network, which doesn’t have a stable of well known anchors or commentators.
OAN has struggled to gain mainstream traction and was dealt a critical blow when it was dropped by cable provider DirecTV in 2022.
Other major outlets have been reluctant to carry the pro-Trump network, and as a result, the network has urged viewers to stream the network online instead.