Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) used his time in the House Judiciary hearing Monday to go on a bizarre rant that ultimately got him laughed at by the hearing room.
The moment came as former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance was finishing her remarks and former White House counsel John Dean was about to answer questions and not even he knew how to respond to Gaetz.
"I seek unanimous consent to enter into the record a December 30, 2005 essay written by Mr. John Dean entitled 'George W. Bush as the new Richard Nixon both wiretapped illegally and impeachably,'" Gaetz asked the chair.
"Mr. Dean, how many American presidents have you accused of being Richard Nixon?" said Gaetz, as Dean laughed.
"I wrote a book about Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney with the title 'Worse than Watergate,'" Dean revealed and the audience broke into laughter.
"So, it's sort of become a -- did you make money on that book?" Gaetz asked.
"It was a very successful book," Dean said. Gaetz asked if he made more than one million dollars, to which he said no.
Another member began to object when Gaetz began asking how much Dean makes from CNN and other commentary positions.
"Wait a second, wait a second, Mr. Dean has made a cottage industry out of accusing presidents of acting like Richard Nixon," he said. "I would like to know how much money he makes based on making these accusations and exploiting them for his own economic benefit."
"Mr. Gaetz, I appreciate you were not born at the time this all happened," said Dean. "The — it’s not by choice that I have done a lot of this. It’s that I’ve been dragged into it."
It devolved into a dramatic Gaetz monologue from there.
Watch below:
