Former FBI official likens Matt Gaetz, Roger Stone, and Trump to the Mafia: 'It's a criminal organization'

• A former FBI official, Frank Figliuzzi, compared several Donald Trump allies to Mafia members.
• He said Matt Gaetz and Roger Stone's hot-mic conversation made him think of wiretaps of mobsters.

A former FBI official on Monday likened the Trumpworld figures Rep. Matt Gaetz and Roger Stone, as well as former President Donald Trump, to the Mafia.

Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI, weighed in on MSNBC regarding The Washington Post's recent reporting of a hot-mic conversation between Gaetz and Stone.

In the tape from 2019, Gaetz was heard reassuring Stone that "the boss" — presumably a reference to Trump — would still offer Stone a presidential pardon.

Figliuzzi also noted how Stone, a longtime Trump associate, had said he was looking to Gaetz and "dozens of others" to help him escape his legal troubles.

"It's a much larger conspiracy than I think even those of us who followed it every day could have imagined," Figliuzzi said.

Figliuzzi also said the conversations between Gaetz and Stone echoed a "we're all in this together" mentality that Trumpworld seemed to function on.

"You know, La Cosa Nostra, the Italian Mafia, translates as, 'This Thing of Ours,'" he said. "That's all I keep hearing here: 'We're all in this together.'"

Figliuzzi added that the wiretaps of mobsters' conversations that he'd heard in the past sounded "just like" Gaetz and Stone's discussions.

"And they're part of a criminal enterprise," he said. "It's a criminal organization. They know it. They know they're screwed with regard to legality, and they know the only way out is for the boss to get them out of it."

Gaetz and Stone were talking about Stone's trial in 2019, which followed Stone's indictment on one count of obstruction, five counts of making false statements to the FBI and congressional investigators, and one count of witness tampering in the special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

In the hot-mic recording, Stone was also heard telling Gaetz that he might have to "appeal to the big man" because most jurors surveyed for his trial despised him.

Gaetz was then heard agreeing with Stone, saying Stone was "fucked" where the trial was concerned. The congressman added, however, that he believed Stone wouldn't go to prison because the "big guy" would not let that happen.

Stone was found guilty in November 2019 and sentenced to 40 months in prison. Trump, however, commuted Stone's sentence in July 2020.

Gaetz has been the subject of a sex-trafficking investigation that kicked off the early last year. The FBI and the Justice Department have been looking into whether Gaetz broke sex-trafficking laws and had sex with a minor. The congressman has denied all wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

Representatives for Gaetz, Stone, and Trump's postpresidential press office didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.