Add witness tampering to Matt Gaetz’s legal problems: legal experts

Legal experts on Saturday weighed in on the bombshell report that GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida was caught on tape discussing a pardon for Roger Stone if he did not testify against Donald Trump.

"As Roger Stone prepared to stand trial in 2019, complaining he was under pressure from federal prosecutors to incriminate Donald Trump, a close ally of the president repeatedly assured Stone that 'the boss' would likely grant him clemency if he were convicted, a recording shows," The Washington Post reported.

On July 10th, Stone told journalist Howard Fineman that Trump "knows I was under enormous pressure to turn on him. It would have eased my situation considerably. But I didn’t.”

Trump commuted Stone's sentence later that day.

“The boss still has a very favorable view of you,” Gaetz said in the new recording. "I don’t think the big guy can let you go down for this.”

Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance said, "sounds like how mobsters talk."

"The Republican Party was — and is — mobbed up," said longtime GOP operative Bill Kristol, who served as chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle.

Prominent conservative lawyer George Conway attempted to translate the tweet into full mob talk to make his point.

Conway said, "our friend, you know, da big guy, da big orange guy in da big house, he'll take care of it, you know, that thing, not that thing, de udder thing, you know, the one wid the guy wid da badge."

But Art Acevedo, who served as chief of police in Austin and Houston, didn't find it funny.

"Mobsters, the whole lot. It’s past time they are all held accountable like everyday Americans," Acevedo said. "The rule of law should be applied equally to all, regardless of societal status."