Nancy Pelosi's State of the Union stunt may have broken the law, according to Matt Gaetz.
After the incident, Gaetz filed an ethics complaint against the House of Representatives speaker, the New York Post has revealed. The Republicans said that the Democratic Pelosi broke the law and violated a number of house rules by tearing up President Trump's State of the Union speech.
This is the moment Pelosi tore up Trump's address:Sharing the missive on Twitter, Gaetz wrote a letter to the House Committee on Ethics, asking them to launch an investigation into Pelosi's actions.
Gaetz wrote that "Speaker Pelosi's gesture was deeply offensive and appears to violate clauses 1 and 2 of House Rule XXIII."
"Her behavior does not 'reflect creditably on the House,' nor does it follow 'the spirit and the letter of the Rules of the House.'"
Trump is pictured below handing Pelosi his speech before she destroyed it.
That wasn't the full extent of the Florida legislator's request. He also asked the committee to refer people to the Department of Justice "for further investigation and prosecution" once the probe is complete.
In his letter, Gaetz said that Pelosi "appears to be in violation" of the law which prevents documents "filed or deposited" in public office from being destroyed.
Pelosi is pictured below tearing up Trump's speech.
In his letter, Gaetz said Pelosi's "unseemly behavior certainly warrants censure."
Quoting legal jargon, Gaetz wrote: "There is no question that Speaker Pelosi 'mutilated, obliterated, or destroyed' the copy of the President's address provided to her at the beginning of the evening."
Explaining her actions to reporters, Pelosi said that the destroyed Trump's address because it was "the courteous thing to do" - a statement Gaetz went on to condemn in his letter slamming Pelosi for allegedly breaking the law.
