This, after Gaetz called for a House Ethics Committee investigation of Pelosi and a referral of her action to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation. Gaetz cited a law that makes it a crime for anyone having custody of certain federal records to mutilate, obliterate or destroy them.

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“There is no question that Speaker Pelosi ‘mutilated, obliterated, or destroyed’ the copy of the President’s address provided to her,” said a letter to the House Ethics Committee signed by Gaetz, a staunch and sometimes boisterous defender of Trump.

“The video evidence is clear and abundant, and the Speaker herself told reporters that she tore up the document,” the letter said. “Nobody is above the law,” Gaetz declared in a tweet accompanying the letter.

Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, called Gaetz’s effort “a frivolous stunt from a Congressman desperate to get back in the President’s good graces after he voted with Democrats and against the President on Iran” in a statement Thursday morning.

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Gaetz appeared on Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s show Wednesday night to drive home his demand.

“She disgraced the House of Representatives, she embarrassed our country, and she destroyed official records,” Gaetz said.

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Among the many problems with Gaetz’s proposed prosecution is that a copy of a speech, even a speech by the president, is not an official record, which means Pelosi was not the custodian of an official record. The law is designed to preserve documents and other official materials in places like the National Archives.

Ingraham, while equally outraged by Pelosi’s behavior, is a law school graduate who clerked at the Supreme Court. She couldn’t hide her amusement at Gaetz’s demand for a probe. Chuckling, she said: “Well, it’s not really a formal record because it’s a copy of the speech that the president signed. … This is cute, but it’s not going to work.”

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Gaetz did not raise the criminal referral again during the interview, but, joined by Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), turned to the dignity of the House and what Gaetz called Pelosi’s “real impulse control problems."

“We appreciate the irony of this particular member [Gaetz] making judgments about the dignity of the House,” said Hammill, Pelosi’s aide.