Letter from 30 of Matt Gaetz's classmates 'denounced' him as 'the antithesis of a citizen lawyer'

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) once bragged about his family's ownership of a house seen in the film The Truman Show, and he was "denounced" by at least 30 of his college classmates as "the antithesis of a citizen lawyer."

In a profile of Gaetz published on Sunday, The New York Times speculated what "the prankish and abundantly coifed 40-year-old Mr. Gaetz" would do with his newfound power after nearly derailing Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) speakership.

"Will he assert himself more on substance and push harder on his far-right agenda? Or is his only goal blowing things up?" the column asked.

But Gaetz insisted that he was "not some 'Lord of the Flies' nihilist" in a recent interview.

READ MORE: Trump compares himself to 'the late, great' Al Capone while decrying prosecutor investigations

The Times pointed out that the Justice Department has not said if a sex trafficking investigation into Gaetz is ongoing.

But the congressman has attacked liberal women who want abortion rights.

"Nobody wants to impregnate you if you look like a thumb," Gaetz said last summer. "These people are odious on the inside and out.

The article also touched on Gaetz's "chubby and bombastic" adolescence.

“In property law class, he brought up the fact that his dad owned the house where Jim Carrey lived in ‘The Truman Show,’” Ms. Fiddler said. More than 30 of his fellow class of 2007 law school graduates, including Ms. Fiddler, would later sign a petition denouncing Mr. Gaetz as “the antithesis of a citizen lawyer.”

Gaetz's father, born into affluence, sold a chain of hospice programs for $400 million in 2004.

The article concluded with speculation about what Gaetz might do with his newly acquired influence in Congress.

"If Mr. Gaetz's principal aim was to cement his reputation as the right's pre-eminent warrior, he appears to have achieved that objective," the Times said. "A week after the final speaker votes were cast, the Florida congressman became the first sitting member to guest-host the former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon's "War Room" podcast. It was the ultimate reward in the MAGA universe, a fellow Republican member ruefully observed, for Mr. Gaetz's obstructionist antics."