Trump surrogate defends Matt Gaetz by threatening to sue media for ‘smear campaign’

Harlan Hill, a one-time campaign adviser and surrogate for former president Donald Trump, is threatening legal action against media outlets for reporting on a Justice Department investigation into Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz that involves child sex-trafficking allegations.

Hill issued a statement Thursday in response to reports that Gaetz paid his firm, Logan Circle Group, $737,000 in the second quarter, for "advertising" and strategic campaign consulting."

"Four months into a fake scandal cooked up by a corporate media who should be — and will be — apologizing for their conduct towards Rep Gaetz, they are now 'reporting' on financial expenses incurred as a result of their own smear campaigns," Hill said in a statement sent to Axios. "If we were them, we'd be worried about our own financial liabilities having repeatedly libelled (sic) and lied."

Axios reported that Gaetz's campaign expenditures — which also went to a firm run by former Trump operative Roger Stone, as well as an attorney who represented accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein — show that the congressman is "reaching for a lifeline from Trumpworld" as he launches his 2022 re-election bid. "For a Republican in a party still dominated by the former president, little conduct could surpass fealty to Donald Trump in the minds of GOP voters."

Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and alleged that a Justice Department official attempted to extort him.