Matt Gaetz

Former Florida congressman who described an Eglin AFB UAP briefing at the July 2023 hearing; left Congress in November 2024 and has not featured since.

Current role: Host of The Matt Gaetz Show on One America News Network; former U.S. Representative for Florida's 1st district (resigned November 2024). No role in the UAP conversation since leaving Congress

Former roles:

U.S. Representative for Florida's 1st district (2017–2024)
Member, House Armed Services Committee

@mattgaetz on X

Background

Lawyer and politician who represented Florida's 1st district, which includes Eglin Air Force Base, from 2017 until he resigned on 13 November 2024 after being nominated for Attorney General, a nomination he withdrew eight days later. His UAP involvement was concentrated in 2023, when he joined Reps. Burchett, Luna and Moskowitz in pressing for the House Oversight hearing and described a briefing he had sought at Eglin. The House Ethics Committee released its report on him in December 2024 after he had left the House, and since January 2025 he has hosted a nightly show on One America News (Wikipedia). No on-record UAP statements by him since leaving Congress have been located.

On the record

2024-01-12 – X – tagged by Rep. Luna, with Reps. Moskowitz and Burchett, in her post saying the group had enough evidence to move forward with a first UAP field hearing. No field hearing followed. X
2023-07-28 – letter to Speaker McCarthy, with Reps. Luna, Burchett and Moskowitz, requesting a select committee on UAP with subpoena authority. Letter
2023-07-26 – House Oversight hearing – entered a statement on an Eglin AFB briefing: "Several months ago my office received a protected disclosure from Eglin Air Force Base indicating that there was a UAP incident that required my attention. I sought a briefing regarding that episode and brought with me Congressman Burchett and Congresswoman Luna. [...] We were not afforded access to all of the flight crew, and initially we were not afforded access to images and to radar. [...] The image was of something that I am not able to attach to any human capability, either from the United States or from any of our adversaries. [...] They saw a sequence of four craft in a clear diamond formation, for which there is a radar sequence that I and I alone have observed in the United States Congress. One of the pilots goes to check out that diamond formation and sees a large floating, what I can only describe as an orb." He recommended "that the radar images that were collected of this formation of craft out of Eglin Air Force base, and specifically the actual image taken by the actual flight crew that we can actually validate be provided to the committee, subpoenaed if necessary". Transcript, pp. 41–42

Responses and criticism

The Eglin radar data and image Gaetz described have not been released. Rep. Luna's 31 March 2026 letter to Secretary Hegseth listed 46 AARO video files for release, and the PURSUE releases from May 2026 included Gulf of Mexico and other military footage, but no item has been publicly identified as the Eglin encounter he described. Luna letter · war.gov/ufo

Timeline of involvement

2017-01-03 – takes office in the House
2023 (early) – seeks an Eglin AFB briefing with Burchett and Luna after a protected disclosure
2023-07-26 – describes the Eglin briefing at the House Oversight hearing
2023-07-28 – co-signs the select committee request to Speaker McCarthy
2024-01-12 – tagged in Luna's field-hearing announcement
2024-11-13 – resigns from the House after nomination for Attorney General; withdraws 2024-11-21
2024-12 – House Ethics Committee report released
2025-01 – begins hosting The Matt Gaetz Show on OAN

Relevant links

Part of the Key People in Disclosure series. Verified 2026-10-10. Spotted an error? Reach out.