THE TRUMP BRAND:

Not long after, "Gaetzgate" was trending on Twitter. And former Trump White House and GOP officials who loathe the loquacious and pugilistic Gaetz were gloating. 

This account is based on interviews with a dozen current and former GOP and White House sources.

One former senior Trump White House aide was on multiple text chains with former colleagues gossiping about the deluge of news about Gaetz's legal predicament. 

The former Trump aides aren't necessarily happy to see the three-term lawmaker in trouble, but they "feel a little vindicated," the former White House staffer told Insider. "He's the meanest person in politics." 

A former congressional aide said GOP leaders could soon be rid of the self-styled provocateur without having to get their hands dirty. 

"Republican leadership will likely watch him completely implode in a matter of days without having to do a thing," the observer told Insider. Stripping him of committee assignments or taking other punitive steps "would require more action from the Justice Department."

Gaetz rose to prominence doing cable TV hits during the Trump era, and he's been bandied about for years as a possible Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate or even a White House contender in the style of Trump. He frequently bragged about his relationship with the Republican president and regularly rode on Air Force One. Gaetz even got engaged in December at Mar-a-Lago, the South Florida private club where Trump now lives. 

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