'It was so weird': Matt Gaetz recounts 'humiliating' donor meeting with bizarre protocol

Former congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida recounted recently what he described as a “freaking weird” meeting where lawmakers were tasked with chatting up potential donors in the hopes of being scanned “like a can of tomato soup.”

“It was so weird,” Gaetz wrote on X Tuesday night alongside a video of himself describing the meeting, which he said was a reception for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, the most powerful pro-Israel lobbying group in the United States.

In the video, Gaetz said it was his first time attending an AIPAC conference, and described the entire experience as “demoralizing.”

“You get there and you wear this name badge, and I remember there's a QR code on it, and what we were supposed to do is go talk to donors. Then, if they liked you, they scanned your QR code to make a donation, like on the spot,” Gaetz said.

“Can you just imagine how demoralizing that is? To be told that your job for the next several hours is to go chat people up, hoping they would scan you like a can of tomato soup on the way out of the meeting? I saw that and I was like 'wow, that is like so freaking weird!'”

Gaetz has been among the growing number of Republicans – particularly self-described MAGA Republicans – that have broken from the party’s historical steadfast support of Israel, having raised questions about lawmakers’ bipartisan commitment to supporting the Middle East nation with ample military and financial support, with Israel being the largest cumulative recipient of American aid since 1946.

Gaetz had previously shared that while on what he described as an “AIPAC trip” to Israel, he walked in on an individual after returning to his hotel room unexpectedly, and when he wasn’t expected there. He said he reported the incident to legislative leadership at the time, but that his concerns were largely dismissed.

Gaetz went on to criticize AIPAC not just for the QR code protocol he observed during his first conference, but for what he characterized as its outweighed influence on lawmakers, something he said he grew to resent.

“Initially I resented the fact that there was no appreciation for nuance; if you asked any questions about any decision of the Israeli government, in any place regarding settlements, Gaza, whatever, you had deviated from the script,” Gaetz said.

“I saw the way that AIPAC worked, and that was weird for a country lawyer like me. I remember my first reception; your fundraiser tells you you have to go, your chief of staff tells you you have to go, your committee chairmen all tell you you have to go.”

Critics, including Gaetz’ former GOP colleagues Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), have called for AIPAC to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which would mandate the organization adhere to far stricter compliance burdens, including required disclosures on communications with lawmakers and officials. Those calls have been met with fierce opposition from AIPAC, which has since launched campaigns against Greene and Massie.

“The policy outgrowth seems to be an obsession about the Middle East that has not served my generation well,” Gaetz said.