Fake post claims Goetz said he “almost never” met with teenagers after being nominated for AG

Claim:

U.S. Attorney General candidate and now-former U.S. Rep. Matt Goetz said he “almost never” met with teenagers in a post on X after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him.

Rating:

In November 2024, the day after the election of President Donald Trump appointed former US representative Matt Goetz to controls the administration of justice as US Attorney General, an account on X posted an apparent screenshot of a post attributed to Goetz. According to one interpretation, i.eThe hat appeared to say that he “almost never” broke the rule that required a man to date anyone less than half his age minus seven years (in his case teenagers) (archived):

Matt Goetz
@mattgaetz

Being nominated for the position of head of the US Department of Justice is such a sweet revenge for the fact that they came after me for “sex trafficking”. The general wisdom about age gap dating is to halve your age and subtract seven. I am 42 years old and I have hardly ever betrayed this general principle in the last 10 years.

X’s post, which appeared on the social network on November 14, 2024 at 9:57 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST), has 56,500 views and 2,100 likes at the time of writing. The purported screenshot was dated November 13, 2024 at 12:37 p.m., without specifying whether it was morning or evening, but likely a few minutes after Goetz’s nomination.

Some X users reacted as if the text in the image was real. “Goetz said he “almost never” ignored this maxim.” said one. “To be guilty of statutory rape, you only need to have one sex with a minor.”

However, the screenshot was a fake. Actually it is first appeared as a post on Reddit November 14, 2024 at 11:30 a.m.:

(Reddit/ToiletPaperUSA)

This post appeared on a subreddit known as ToiletPaperUSA, which, according to its description, was “dedicated to mocking TPUSA and conservative pseudo-intellectuals in general, from the left point of view” (italics theirs). TPUSA is a reference to The US turning pointa lobbying group dedicated to promoting conservative politics in high schools and universities.

The Reddit post appeared with the label “Fake News,” indicating that “the post is fake and most likely satirical,” according to the subreddit’s automated post. The subreddit’s rules state that all fake news must be labeled as:

Fake (i.e. fake, simulated, etc.) tweets should be flagged as FAKE NEWS, which will result in a comment at the top, which also declares that the post is fake, so it needs to be flagged at the time of publication to trigger that comment.

It is true, however, that Goetz once suggested on X — then Twitter — in a retweet that his state, Florida, should “change its welcome signs” to read, “There is no age when you can’t be (sic) sexual” (archived):

Goetz was also investigated both the department he was now expected to lead — pending confirmation by the US Senate — and the House Ethics Committee on allegations that he had sex with a minor and that he knew she was being paid to do so.