LOS ANGELES (CNS) - In the midst of a hearing on Britney Spears' conservatorship, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida showed up at a "#FreeBritney" rally outside the downtown Los Angeles courthouse to throw his support behind the singer.
Gaetz, who is under federal investigation for alleged obstruction of a child-sex-trafficking case in which he's been implicated, spoke to a cheering crowd of Spears supporters and called the continuing conservatorship "a black eye on the American justice system."
"Britney has been abused by the media. She's been abused by a grifter father, and she's been abused by the American justice system," Gaetz told the crowd outside the . And so we need to come together to create a federal cause of action, a federal change in the law that will free Britney and the millions of Americans who are impacted by a corrupt guardian system that empowers people to take advantage of the weak."
"... There were grifters in this process that tried to act like they spoke for Britney, that they knew what she wanted," he said. "Well now, the whole world knows what Britney Spears wants, and it is the freedom and the liberty that should be offered to every single American."
Gaetz and several other Republican lawmakers sent an invitation to Spears earlier this month, asking her to testify before Congress about the conservatorship, which the singer is trying to end.
"This case should open our eyes to the broader abuse that occurs in this system to the millions of Americans impacted," he said.