U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin has been on a tear against colleague and Congressman Matt Gaetz of late, notably telling CNN on Thursday that allegations Gaetz slept with underage girls “were reasonable” because of his past behavior on the House floor.
To this, Stephen Colbert told his Thurday night audience, “The guy everybody finds particularly punchable is Florida Congressman and man who spotted you from across the Build-A-Bear workshop, Matt Gaetz.”
In his monologue, part of which you can watch below, Colbert didn’t stop there. “Everyone he works with thinks Gaetz is a sleaze,” he insisted, “including Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin.”
The “Late Show” host then played a clip of a Newsmax interview to illustrate his point. In the video, Mullin tells the news outlet that Gaetz once told him of then-Congresswoman (and now Governor of South Dakota) Kristi Noem, “Man, she’s a fine [silently bobs head] and you can put the ‘b word’ in place there.”
Colbert suggested, “Brebresentative of Bouth Bakota?”
In a second clip, Mullin is seen telling CNN that after Gaetz was accused of sleeping with underage girls, “There’s a reason why no one in the conference defended him. Because we had all seen the videos that he was showing on the House floor, all of us had walked away, of the girls that he had slept with.”
Mullin added, “He bragged about how he would crush ED medicine and chase it with an energy drink so he could go all night. This is obviously before he got married.”
“Oh,” Colbert said as the camera cut back to him. “That makes it better, then.”
Gaetz announced he was being investigated by the Department of Justice for possible sexual misconduct in March 2021. The announcement came soon after The New York Times reported that the DOJ had launched an investigation into allegations that the then-38-year-old groomed and entered into a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl.
Gaetz was also suspected of transporting the girl over state lines, which could have violated federal sex trafficking laws. At the time, the congressman insisted he and his family were actually victims of a $25 million “organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official.”
In February 2023, the DOJ announced it would not file charges against Gaetz due to lack of evidence.
