#i should've voted william

[blinday]

Elizabeth bc then I would have nicknames for every gender. Eli, Liz, Liza, Beth, B, Bee.

I was gonna go with William bc I love the nickname Billy (specially bc it be like Blinday) but Elizabeth simply gives me more options.

all period typical nicknames are free reign

[natalieironside]

Message to all North Americans reminding you to get out the #vote in this month's very important election! That's right, it's NARA referendum season! IWW members in good standing within the North American Regional Administration should've received their ballots by email sometime last month along with a new GOB explaining who all's running for what and what the different amendments are. If you haven't gotten yours, contact GHQ!

I've had to take some time away due to my poor health and am not up on all the latest union gossip so don't ask me what my opinion is on this or that, I ain't got one yet. Except for Noah Williams for GST; a vote for Noah Williams for GST is a vote for me getting a thing that I want.

[jaispeaksandlistens]

(if you don't wanna be reminded of the election I advise scrolling :) )

i don't think certain people truly realize the danger they have put half the population of America in. about 13.7 percent of American citizens are fully African American, which is just one of the minorities effected. 8.9 percent of people have a disability under the of 65 (and possibly more because the stats only show 2018-2022) according to Williams institute, "Combining 2020-2021 BRFSS data, we estimate that 5.5% of U.S. adults identify as LGBT. Further, we estimate that there are almost 13.9 million (13,942,200) LGBT adults in the U.S." Adults. Just adults. Meanwhile M.A.P says "While few nationally representative, large surveys of youth ask about sexual orientation and gender identity, best estimates suggest that between 7-9% of youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer." Children. People claim to vote trump to protect the children until the children are black, queer, disabled, or immigrants. people are TERRIFIED to even leave their homes because they don't know if it could cost them their life. Trump seems to be outlawing everything BUT the guns taking peoples loved ones from them. There seems to be a law for everything except not letting a convicted felon run for president which should've been placed AGES AGO. They have taken down the petition to do a recount but expect us to be happy. We are terrified for fucks sake. Half of us are still and school and have to deal with it from other kids. We shouldn't have to be in fear around the people who are supposed to protect us as well. The minorites I've listed aren't even all of the ones being effected mind you, nearly everyone but straight cis white men are effected, and I can assure you. More than cis white men voted trump.

[original-character-championship]

Bracket A Round 1 First Half Results!!!

This first wave of polls has been chaotic and filled with propaganda, even from unexpected sources (Thank you everyone who drew fanart of any of the characters!!!) but unfortunately, it has come to an end! You could simply check the bracket, or even look up the polls for the results, but where would be the fun in that?

Poll 1

Nova Williams the alien child won against Baz the kitten brainworm with a 74% to 26%!!! guess they didn't succeed in spreading enough brainworms

Poll 2

Cat against rat! Cat Hax the cat robot managed to catch Snoodle Rattigan the rat priest with 59% to his 41%!! May he end up in rat heaven.

Poll 3

Spaventapasseri the hot pathetic dilf completely SWEPT the Scientist with nearly 75% of votes! Did he have the support of the hero commission? who knows!

Poll 4

Joan Church managed to beat Starus the epic :3 with 60% of votes against his nearly 40% with the power of christian trauma (and this cool armour) !!!

Poll 5

Friendships have been forged, alliances nearly made, but, in the end, Max didn't manage to tie with Nigel Nigel, who won with nearly 53% of the votes against her 47%! However, these two guitar players have finished the closest to one another out of all the brackets, with only a 6% difference - not even 21 votes!! In the spirit of the crossover art, I am offering them the choice of a team up!! @spw-art @bjursta do you want to start a band?

Poll 6

Jasper the buggirl has won against Soso the plant zombie with 65% of votes! Soso should've brought a pesticide :(

Poll 7

Despite enormous amounts of propaganda, Cal the cat mcr stan has lost against Destruction the robot nurse with not even 40% of votes against her 60%! The support for girls who assist in medical malpractice was just too strong <3

Poll 8

Theodore Aphelion III couldn't get the percentage of votes to his favourite number (57) and lost against Celiry Stik! I am giving him an orange so he doesn't feel so sad that he only got 35% of votes

Poll 9

Valentine the genderweird werewolf musician won against Pup the genderfluid demon with 70% of the votes! This fight was very gender I want what both of them have.

Poll 10

Mic Michaelson the evil game show host managed to beat Avery the pathetic wet godfather! What can I say, 58% of people love mushrooms and only 42% of people love depressed parental figures

Poll 11

Sister Virtue - Theophania managed to exorcise the lovecore demon Amadeo Kenzie despite the protection provided by A Lot of propaganda and gained 64% of the votes! This poll got the most votes out of all the polls (614!!!) which is almost double the average (a little above 300)

Poll 12

Garner - Caelum the demigod antihero won against Allara Foln! I suppose it is harder to beat a demigod than ancient robots, but she still managed to get more than 32% of the votes!

Poll 13

Stephanie Silvers the he/him lesbian beat BOB the KILLER-REMEMBER with 69(nice)% of the votes!!! The beauty of a pink stick figure apparently didn't win our voters over :(

Poll 14

The large amount of propaganda worked for Kirk "Chinook" Raymond, as he beat Madea Whitewistle with over 73% of the votes! I would also like to apologize to Madea for misspelling her name multiple times, even though I have always managed to catch it in time.

Poll 15

In a battle of cute creachers, only one can win, and this time it was Valrik the living stuffed animal! He beat (night)Core the Halloween spirit with over 55% of votes!

Poll 16

Neither the power of religious trauma nor propaganda worked for Mattias Bishop, who lost against Black the furry wolf boy with not even 45% votes :(

[everythingne]

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ ➛ out of the woods 9

dhanishka and logan find their closure at the end of the day. which, to them, is all that matters now.

notes/warnings: okay. is this it? i think so. wow. i love them so much im reviving my old much darker plot? yes. so if you love out of the woods, don't worry, they'll be home again soon :)

previous / masterlist

Sitting down in the meeting room, I straighten out my dress and adjust the way I'm seated about four times before feeling comfortable. Olivia sits next to me as she flips through her files, the door opening reveals Charles coming in with Fred Vasseur, who immediately gives me a sad smile. I stand up, move over to shake his hand, and let him pull me in for the classic kisses on either cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Dhanishka." Fred grips my hand, sincerity dripping off his words and painting his face, "I should've kept a better eye on everyone, done some checks... I feel horrible."

"Don't worry about it," I squeeze his hands back, giving him a sad smile, "you could've never anticipated this, none of us could've ever anticipated this. I have lost no respect for you, but because of what happened during my time with Ferrari--I had to leave."

"I understand. As we discussed, you have always been a part of our family, and I wish you all the best in your future." Fred gives my hand a final squeeze as some of the investigators from the FIA come into the room. I move to sit next to Olivia, watching as Charles takes the seat on my other side.

I'm so not ready for this.

"Welcome to the meeting of the FIA versus Fadel, Marina, and Ferrari." One woman says softly, everyone's attention drawn to her, "We will be discussing both sides of the argument and then move on to a vote to hand down the verdict. After the verdict is determined, appropriate fines will be placed within five hours."

After introducing everyone, she continues, "We will start with Mrs. Piastri-Norris' defense of Dhanishka Dubey."

"Thank you," Olivia stands up, brushing off her dress skirt as if it's crumby, which it's never been, "As a reminder, the original protest was lodged by myself and Charles. We lodged this complaint after Scuderia Ferrari employees failed to retrieve Dhanishka from the medical bay following her crash in Imola on Sunday, the nineteenth of May. This investigation was determined to be punishable and to be handled by Ferrari which prompted the investigation to be prepped to be closed. However, on the Ninth of June, at approximately 21:45, commotion in the Scuderia Ferrari garage prompted The Stewards to conduct a wellness check."

Olivia pauses, then continues, "Inside the garage, Aakash Fadel, Dhanishka Dubey and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, Lando Norris of McLaren, Logan Sargeant and Astrid Marina of Williams, and Myself of RedBull were found amid an argument. After the argument was separated, the FIA conducted an investigation. They found Dhanishka's Head of Mechanics, Aakash Fadel guilty of breaking team orders and multiple FIA codes concerning purposeful mis-engineering of Dubey’s car. They also found the Head Personal Relations Manager of Logan Sargeant guilty of strategizing against a driver as well as bribery the Scuderia Ferrari Engineers to comply with her plans."

"Throughout this investigation, all parties except Fadel and Marina have cooperated. With Fadel and Marina being found breaking FIA rules, we are gathered here today to determine if they are guilty." Olivia straightens herself out once more and clasps her hands together, "Mr. Vasseur collected data from Miss Dubey's car, as well as radios between the team and documents on the cars performance they tried to prematurely delete--which are all in this first file you were given."

The many people around the table flick their hands to the first set of papers and begin thumbing through them, "Everything on those pages is important, but for reading ease we went through and highlighted everything that was an explicit breach of contracts."

I hate the fact that I can see a lot of highlighted sections on most of the pages.

"With this substantial evidence, I feel there is no need for me to make a case to prove Miss Dubey was specifically targeted." Olivia sets her palms down on the table, "it is now up to the committee to determine the way they will punish Mr. Fadel and Mrs. Marina. That is all, thank you."

As Olivia sits next to me, she squeezes my knee with her hand. I brush a hand through my hair, nodding to her and glancing across the room to where Charles sits with a pensive expression thats almost impossible to read further. But the knit in his brow tells me all I need to know.

There's no defense from Fadel or Marina's group, but just before the meeting is closed--Astrid herself stands.

"I'd like to only say one thing," she clasps her hands together, "Williams has been struggling for a while, good PR is a great way for a team to build funding."

"And so you sabotaged another driver?" Olivia quickly counters, standing up as well, "you put Miss Dubey's life at risk more times than I am willing to count for what? Dimes on dollars?"

"Olivia." Charles hums and Olivia sits down with a forceful huff, my hand flying to hers and squeezing it tight in thanks. Astrid is flustered and bites out,

"Well, at least her and Logan's PR stunt worked better than yours."

And I can see Olivia's jaw tick. She hadn't told me much about how her relationship with Lando started, but I knew unlike mine with Logan hers was more... forced? Contractual?

But they were married now so it wasn't like they hated each other after it.

The meeting draws to an uneventful close and while the group deliberates on punishments, I meet up with Logan in the hall. His hand slips firm around my waist, a kiss to my hairline as he smiles.

"Ready for contract negotiations?" He hums against my lips right before I pop a kiss to his, then lean down to wipe the lipstick off.

"Let's get out of here." I grin.

See... Williams had announced me as their second. But with a team quickly going bankrupt and no plan to save it, Logan and I chose to jump ship together. James could find another pair of drivers to screw over, I was done with being someone elses toy and Logan didn't even speak to James anymore.

And so, with two leases on new apartments (one next to Oscar's in Monaco and one in a small Indiana town) we had decided to swap to Indycar. And luckily for us, Kyle Kirkwood had put in quite a good word with a team I knew Logan would be happy with.

"Good morning to you both," chimes a voice over the Zoom call, my screen loading in to show Rene smiling happily at us--the bright red of Prema's office walls behind him making a warm glow cast across the screen.

"Good afternoon to you in Italy!" I smile, Logan greeting him as well. Conversation is quick, the contracts just being sent back and forth to be signed before Logan and I are off to pick up some food for Olivia's second attempt at having everyone over her house.

Halfway to the store, I get a phone call from Olivia.

"Bad news first: I burnt the cookies." Olivia chimes over the car speakers as I answer the call and I laugh, jotting down the ingredients she asks me to grab so she can make a second non-burnt batch (even though I knew we'd probbaly still eat the burnt cookies anyways.)

"Good news," Olivia's grin is audible, "we won the case."

"No shit," I laugh, "Astrid didn't even have a defense, and then thought the best thing to do was insult you. What did they get fined?"

Logan reaches across the console, intertwining his hand with mine as we continue on the main road. His hand is a heavy warmth as his idly runs his thumb along the outside of my hand, the other hand firm on the bottom of the steering wheel.

"Split between everyone involved it's about five hundred thousand pounds. They're paying for majority of the car damages and medical bills as well as general FIA fines." Olivia shuffles some papers and I can hear Lando yelling something about Oscar and Lily in the background before Olivia laughs under her breath at her husband and continues, "Astrid's banned for life, so is Aakash. Most of the engineers involved have small fines and then they're also banned for the rest of the season. If Ferrari rehires them next season they're on a 'probationary' period."

"Christ." I whisper, Logan lowly humming as I glance towards him.

"Enough about that sad shit, though." I can imagine Olivia waving a hand through the air before she pauses to shoot some sort of insult to her brother--who responds with a sharp but confused "fuck you?"

Olivia laughs, then I hear her come back towards the microphone as she says, "How did the contract negotiation go?"

"I'll miss seeing you around the track, but Logan and I are fully set to drive for Prema next season in IndyCar. We just have to stop by Williams to drop off some paperwork after we get the groceries."

"Wonderful." Olivia grins, "We'll see you soon!"

With a kick, Logan comes into the apartment with two duffel bags, drops them on the ground and disappears back into the hallway. It's several weeks later, just after Singapore, and Dhanishka's busy working on fixing up the little apartment in Indiana. Logan wasn't supposed to be home until Monday night, early morning post race meetings keeping him late. Dhanishka knew he'd been really looking forward to this meeting, hoping it would get him out of the funk of no response he'd been getting from James and Williams as a whole.

Slowly setting down her paint, making sure it won't fall, she moves to the hallway.

"You're home early," Danishka cheers, swiping sawdust and paint splotches off her hands. She peeks over her shoulder, then pauses when she sees Logan drop a helmet case unceremoniously onto the floor. He's got a shit ton of stuff piling into the foyer, more than she's expecting, and she hesitantly asks, "Did you get the stuff out of the storage unit?"

Silence meets her. Dhanishka pauses, slowly moving into the foyer where Logan just kinda stood, a slow shuddering breath leaving him, "Logan?"

"So, you know how I had the meeting with James?" He asks, and when Dhanishka hums a yes, he rolls out his neck and groans, moving forward. Her arms open, a soft 'i'm covered in paint' leaving her before her boyfriend is all swaddled up in her arms.

"Dropped me." He murmurs into the skin of her neck and Dhanishka hums. She had seen this coming since she'd pulled out of her contract, all communication with James and Williams had instantly fallen through. Alex had seen it coming too.

"I'm sorry, baby." She whispers, kissing his cheek, rubbing his shoulders, "But hey, now we can go visit your friends?"

Logan lifts his head, smiling, pressing a kiss to her lips. An long, lingering thing, a seal, and his hands slide up to cup her jaw as he leans back.

"And we can do what we want, now that we have the apartment all to ourselves." He murmurs against her lips and Dhanishka grins, pressing a few chaste kisses to his lips.

"We're free." She whispers, and the two of them fall into giggles in the warm sunlight. There's a bit of a rocky world ahead, figuring out where to go, but with two contracts signed and the other two voided fully now, they have a blank slate to begin working on. Starting with the apartment, then their friends, then the world of racing. They have time to truly breathe for the first time in years.

No goals to chase down with a hunger. Just a pair of lips to chase with love in intertwined hands and maybe a hidden promise ring in a sock drawer Dhanishka had found weeks back.

liked by kylekirkwood, oscarpiastri, anyadubey, and others...

dhanishkadubey: cat mom, dog dad, party hosters, american homeowners, range visitors, speakeasy finders... everything and anything with you forever, merit jaan <3

tagged: logansargeant

user: PARENNNTTSS

kylekirkwood: did flipper lose his shit when he met mimmy?

dhanishkadubey: mimmy broke out of the bathroom and we woke up to them napping together so, no LMAO

user1: fuck williams but thank u for bringing my parents back together

anyadubey: WE MISS U IN BAHRAIN...:(

dhanishkadubey: MISS YOU TOO BABEEESSS MWAHH

user2: LOGAN AND THE DOG OH MY GOD

user3: dhanishka and logan ARE the hottest motorsports couple goodbye

oscarpiastri: have the best off season you both deserve it

landonorris: absolutely lovely for you both

charlesleclerc: missing you dhanishka!

dhanishkadubey: charlie i will CRYYY i miss you so much <3

oliviapiastrinorris: i will be back to ur cute little flat soon

logansargeant: the cat mom to my dog dad :)

dhanishkadubey: our son is eating drywall

logansargeant: ISA STOP HIM??

dhanishkadubey: DO YOU THINK I LET MY SON EAT DRYWALL??

daltonsargeant: ah, new parents.

taglist (open for part b, I will be remaking it... oops)

@destinyg237 @nichmeddar @shineforever19 @d3kstar @chasing-liberosis @justsomejess @struggling-with-delia @daemyratwst

[avephelis]

so... that halloween stream sure was... something. arginnit? argbur?? i am losing my mind.

figured i'd ramble about what i noticed, because god knows this won't be leaving my brain for a good while.

ARGINNIT THEORY TIME

(EDIT 8/11/2021: Yea now Wilbur has confirmed it wasn't an ARG but I'm still keeping this up. Just think about it as speculation or a cool au. I think regardless of whether it was an ARG or a bit the art and theories and conversation about it were really cool and fun!)

"Tommy quotes are in quotations" "Wilbur quotes are bold" "Everyone else is italic"

chellepop's transcript of the Wilbur call from twitter (godsend)

This is in reference to Tubbo's "HALLOWEEN STREAM w/ Tommy Ranboo Aimsey Badlinu & Billzo" [YOUTUBE and TWITCH vod links]

Theories below cut!

Tommy is acting... off, even during the apple bobbing. On his second attempt for a minute it seems like he's trying to drown himself, and even for Tommy the level of his struggle seemed a little ridiculous

Theres a couple of comments about the cold (a la argbur), but i dunno how much that counts considering it's autumn over there and water generally does that to you. though, it is notable considering Tommy continues to keep piling on more warm layers, even when inside...

Tommy says he's had a "premonition", and Ranboo asks if they're going to die. It was definitely in reference to the apple bobbing vote, and probably a bit, but still notable

This interaction; "How was it drowning?" "Well it was uh- You know, I'll- I'll- I'll- I'll- ahh- I'll um be honest-" "I think you should've stayed for longer" "I saw-" [interjection] "I- I saw- I kinda saw my life flash before my eyes, I thought about all my memories, and then I thought, 'I haven't done enough, this sucks!' uhh- and then i got transcended back to the real world" - (again, probably a bit, but notable)

Throughout the stream, it's questioned as to why Tommy is even there. It's difficult to tell whether that's just teasing, or another indicator.

And then. ah yes. Wilbah phone call. Very spooky very cool (Tommy's acting is so enjoyable to watch). Just a couple notes because no way in hell am I breaking all of that down.

Wilbur sounds.... definitely off. Almost like an announcer/stereotypical horror movie antagonist (considering his history of using different voices and tones for different characters, this seems another indicator of an ARG)

Even considering the fact that Tommy is acting off, his single-minded focus on getting Wilbur to the camera/microphone is strange, but he seems almost skittish about the others being involved in the conversation

There are several references from Tommy about being forced to "do weird shit", "saying things [he doesn't] wanna say". Does this imply coercion? Possession?

Tommy and Wilbur's focus on "beating the hell out of Williams" was maybe a little bit suspicious... (y'know, with Will/Wilbur being derivative of William and all, especially given Billzo's frequent denial of of the name)

What the fuck is this Lamborghini shit

Obviously theres the part where Wilbur seems to be instructing Tommy to fight/harm/possibly kill one of his friends, sizing them up, trying to determine what weapons Tommy has experience with.

"The knives are out right now" "A knife's not gonna tear into it" "a knife's not gonna penetrate anyone" Probably talking about a human body, possibly talking about something... else (if this is going to involve spooky stuff like possession n shit, it could involve the paranormal)

"Can they get out, by the way, can they-" "No, no, they can't." "Okay, good, good" is... yeah. It's also interesting when considering that Tommy later seems to panic at the suggestion of being let back in/having doors unlocked when he's outside

Tommy seems very willing to put himself in harm's way, especially at Wilbur's suggestion (the drowning, threats of fighting, collapsing as soon as Wilbur says "Collapse down there.", etc.)

"The collapse went-" "It looks like it's on your friend, Will" "I can't anyway, I'm pinned down from the fall" ....???

Why did Wilbur want Tommy to unplug things/switch them off so badly? What happened during the blackout?

Why aren't you having a good Halloween Wimbly Scoot? What's going on? Huh?

And then there's the whole part where Tommy goes outside.

The first time, when he's outside the window, apart from being... generally weird, the whole breathing bit seems very off. Not sure whether there's something to decode there or just Tommy Shenanigans

When Tommy goes out a second time, there's a whole struggle with doors being locked and keys and whatnot

When Tubbo suggests to let Tommy in, he starts panicking immediately, yelling out protests, aggressively finger-pointing and banging on the window, running his hands through his hair, etc. Is it because he wants to keep them in, or keep something else out?

Tommy then disappears for about 6 minutes, in which Aimsey can't find him, before returning, covered in mud and leaves, and acting dissociated, disturbed, and near-catatonic.

I've seen loads of people saying the mud is possibly from digging a grave (which does seem like a likely scenario), but it is curious that Tommy has leaves in his hair, and looks otherwise dishevelled. Could this be a sign of a struggle? A scuffle? Can't be sure.

And a last couple of notes

I've seen several people talking about a point at which Tommy's blinks create the Morse Code for "stop", but I'm not sure which point it is, and am not familiar enough with morse to check it, unfortunately

The theory of Tommy/arginnit being controlled or possessed by Wilbur/argbur seems likely. Obviously, Tommy is acting off, Wilbur is commanding him, etc, but also in the sense that Tommy seems to be attempting to fight back, somehow? Between letting everyone hear the call, the "stop" blinking, and his panic at being let inside, at least. Perhaps the leaves and dirt, attempted drowning, and so on, weren't just instructions from Wilbur, but perhaps some rather violent/extreme attempts to stop himself/whoever it is from hurting everyone else...

If Tommy's resisting Wilbur somehow, it could also explain why Wilbur's Halloween don't seem to be going so great.

obviously this is all speculation, i don't claim to own anything lol, and it's too early to know anything for sure. but goddamn.

all tommyinnit and wilbur soot know is make personas, traumatise teenagers, eat hot chip and lie 😔

[mongoose232323]

BREAKING NEWS

Rep. Matt Gaetz Showed Nude Photos of

The Women He Said He Had Slept With To

Other Lawmakers In Congress.

Two Fellow Congresspersons To Defend Gaetz

Are Jim Jordan, Who Is Said To Have Procured

Young Boys For His Wrestling Coach To Molest

And Majorie Taylor Greene Who Is Said To Have

Had Multiple Sex Partners When She Owned A

Gym, This Cheating On Her Husband.

From The Article

Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican being investigated by the Justice Department over sex trafficking allegations, made a name for himself when he arrived on Capitol Hill as a conservative firebrand on TV and staunch defender of then-President Donald Trump. Behind the scenes, Gaetz gained a reputation in Congress over his relationships with women and bragging about his sexual escapades to his colleagues, multiple sources told CNN.

Gaetz allegedly showed off to other lawmakers photos and videos of nude women he said he had slept with, the sources told CNN, including while on the House floor. The sources, including two people directly shown the material, said Gaetz displayed the images of women on his phone and talked about having sex with them. One of the videos showed a naked woman with a hula hoop, according to one source.

"It was a point of pride," one of the sources said of Gaetz.

There's no indication these pictures are connected to the DOJ investigation.

Gaetz, 38, who was elected to Congress in 2016, has been at the center of a number of controversies in his four-plus years in Congress. But he's now embroiled in easily his biggest scandal yet, after the Justice Department began investigating him in the final months of the Trump administration under then-Attorney General William Barr as part of a larger investigation into another Florida politician. Federal investigators are examining whether Gaetz engaged in a relationship with a woman that began when she was 17 years old and whether his involvement with other young women broke federal sex trafficking and prostitution laws, two people briefed on the matter said.

Gaetz has denied the allegations, saying "no part of the allegations against me are true," and he claimed Tuesday that he was the victim of an extortion plot, which the FBI is separately investigating.

"Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name. We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter and my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI's direction to catch these criminals," Gaetz said in a statement.

Gaetz and a spokesperson for Gaetz did not respond to requests for comment on the images and videos he allegedly showed to lawmakers.

After the DOJ investigation into Gaetz surfaced this week, there were a handful of Republicans in Congress who defended him, speaking out on his behalf, including both Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. But many House Republicans stayed quiet.

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday there were "serious implications" involving the DOJ allegations, adding that he would remove Gaetz from the Judiciary Committee if they were proven true.

"I haven't heard anything from the DOJ or others, but I will deal with it if anything comes to be true" McCarthy said in response to a question from CNN at a town hall event in Iowa.

Gaetz made a name for himself on conservative television soon upon his arrival to Congress in 2017, where he's often been a thorn in the side of House Republican leadership while aligning himself closely with the Freedom Caucus and Trump during his presidency. Gaetz has been a constant presence on both Newsmax and Fox News -- much more than any typical rank-and-file House member -- and he turned to Fox soon after the allegations surfaced Tuesday.

At one point during Gaetz's first term, staff for then-House Speaker Paul Ryan held a short meeting with Gaetz in the Capitol, where they had a discussion with Gaetz about acting professionally while in Congress, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting. One source said the conversation wasn't tied to a specific incident. Ryan didn't directly have a conversation with Gaetz.

Gaetz's spokesperson denied that he was ever reprimanded by Ryan or his staff. "That did not happen, no meeting with the speaker or his staff," the spokesperson said.

Hours before the news broke Tuesday of the investigation involving Gaetz, Axios reported he was considering leaving Congress for a job at the conservative television station Newsmax.

Gaetz was one of the most vocal backers of Trump's lie after the 2020 election that the election was stolen from him. After 10 Republicans voted to impeach Trump in January, Gaetz personally took up the task of trying to oust the House's GOP conference chair Liz Cheney, the highest-ranking Republican to support impeachment, traveling to Wyoming to hold a rally against Cheney in her home state.

In March 2020, when the scale of the Covid-19 pandemic was not yet clear, Gaetz wore a gas mask on the floor of the House during the first vote on an emergency funding bill for the coronavirus response.

Gaetz was admonished last year by the House Ethics Committee for a tweet threatening Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen ahead of his 2019 testimony before the House Oversight Committee. The committee found the tweet "did not violate witness tampering and obstruction of Congress laws" but did not "reflect creditably" upon the House. The Florida bar also investigated the case and cleared Gaetz. He apologized for the tweet.

Later that year, Gaetz led a band of House Republicans who barged into a closed-door House impeachment inquiry interview, occupying the House Intelligence Committee spaces for several hours in a publicity stunt to protest the investigation that would lead to Trump's first impeachment.

Gaetz has also found himself in hot water over his spending practices. Politico reported last year that Gaetz improperly sent $28,000 to pay an LLC affiliated with a speech-writing consultant. Gaetz's office returned the funds to the House and said it was a "glorified clerical error."

One of Gaetz's official actions as a member of Congress is also gaining fresh scrutiny in the wake of the DOJ investigation. In 2017, Gaetz was the one member of Congress to vote against a bill designed to create a coordinator in the Department of Transportation responsible for helping states develop policies to prevent human trafficking.

At the time, Gaetz did a Facebook Live broadcast defending his vote. He said he voted no because he felt the existing Transportation Department staffing should've been able to handle the task, and he was sent to Washington to stop the expansion of the federal government.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/04/01/politics/matt-gaetz-photos-women/index.html