Matt Gaetz Claims Jamie Raskin Unable To Do Job Due To Son's Suicide

Republican Representative Matt Gaetz has suggested that Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin is "unable" to do his job because of the suicide of his son.

Gaetz, who represents Florida's 1st congressional district, made the remarks on Wednesday during an appearance on the podcast of fellow Republican, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Raskin is currently a member of the House of Representatives Select Committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021, that will begin holding public hearings on Thursday.

His son, Tommy Raskin, died by suicide on New Year's Eve, 2020 after years of battling mental illness. He was 25 years old at the time of his death, while Representative Raskin was present during the storming of the Capitol on January 6, one day after the funeral.

"What I worry about with Raskin, in all seriousness—when people encounter trauma, they often associate a lot of the other things around that trauma with it, even if they don't naturally or even rationally associate. And what I worry about for the Congress and for Jamie Raskin, you know, no one would ever want to lose a child, particularly to suicide," Gaetz said.

"As a human being, our hearts go out to him. But I think that he takes that trauma and he associates it now with his work in the Congress to such an interwoven way that he's unable to do the congressional experience outside of just the dungeon of that personal trauma," the Republican went on.

Gaetz said that "I think it makes him look at everything in these very, like, dark and severe ways."

Greene and Gaetz then had a brief exchange before the congressman said: "But I think for Jamie Raskin, it's really like, his service in the Congress has almost become like inextricably attached to this sad personal trauma he's had."

"And I think it does cloud his judgment, and you could see that, that very darkness and that pain manifest on Thursday in a way that's not particularly relevant to the challenges that we've talked about. But it might be deeply relevant to what he's going through. And the country shouldn't have to go through all that with him," Gaetz said.

Gaetz appeared to be referring to how Raskin will act when the televised hearings of the Select Committee begin on Thursday.

Raskin, who represents Maryland's 8th district, spoke about his son's death in an interview with NPR in January. He discussed how he took up the role as House impeachment manager for then President Donald Trump's second impeachment not long after Tommy died.

"I was forced to galvanize all of my love for Tommy and my daughters, Hannah and Tabitha, and my wife, Sarah, and our family and our country, and to throw myself into the trial to make the case that Donald Trump had incited this violent insurrection in an effort to overthrow the 2020 presidential election," Raskin said.

Newsweek has asked Jamie Raskin's office for comment.