REP Matt Gaetz has said “what happened to Britney Spears shouldn’t happen to any American” as he pushes for conservator reform.
The Republican congressman said he is “honored to be leading the ‘Free Britney’ movement in Congress,” calling her conservatorship part of an “abusive legal system.”
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Gaetz said on Saturday that “broader reform” is “required in the areas of guardianship and conservatorship.”
He noted he has been joined by three colleagues in inviting the singer to speak to lawmakers as part of what he calls a “growing movement.”
Speaking to Newsmax at Donald Trump’s Florida rally, Gaetz said: “What happened to Britney Spears is terrible. It shouldn’t happen to her. It shouldn’t happen to any American.”
Gaetz is calling on “bipartisan action to really help so many of our fellow Americans who are stuck in this abusive legal system.”
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He is supported by Reps Marjorie Taylor Greene, Andy Biggs, and Burgess Owens.
The four lawmakers wrote the popstar: “The United States Congress should hear your story and be inspired to bipartisan action.
“What happened to you should never happen to any other American.”
Britney was invited to speak in Congress after she spoke out about her conservatorship battle with her father Jamie.
“Your story is so powerful, and the admiration of your achievements so great, you (and perhaps only you) can blow that door wide open, giving hope to millions,” the politicians’ letter dated June 30 reads.
Gaetz later tweeted that the effort wasn’t a celebrity stunt, claiming he and his elected colleagues “are very serious about guardianship and conservatorship reform.”
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The politicians’ open invitation came as the superstar was unable to remove her father Jamie Spears from controlling the 39-year-old’s finances and business decisions.
The judge in the case tossed her attempt to regain independence and relieve her father of his conservatorship role.
Britney has been forced to live with substantial restrictions placed on her following a series of high-profile mental breakdowns.
The terms of the conservatorship grant her father a great deal of influence over her professional life – but Britney claims he’s meddled in her personal life as well.
In fact, Britney testified that the conservatorship arrangement she’s been living under since 2008 is “abusive” that she wants to “sue her family.”
Britney told the judge: “The people who did this to me should not get away.
“Ma’am, my dad, and anyone involved in this conservatorship, and my management, who played a huge role in punishing me when I said no –Ma’am, they should be in jail.”
Britney’s testimony included shocking details about how she felt “abused” and “threatened” by the conservatorship and blamed those involved and the California legal system.
She wanted her story to be shared with the public “instead of it being a hush-hush secret to benefit all of them,” she explained.
“It concerns me I’ve been told I’m not allowed to expose the people who did this to me.
“All I want is to own my money, for this to end, and for my boyfriend to drive me in his f**king car,” she told the court.
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When calling for her father’s removal during a November court hearing, her attorney said the young woman was scared of her father and wanted him ousted from the conservatorship.
In court filings, the singer said she wanted private wealth management firm the Bessemer Trust appointed as “sole conservator.”
However, documents filed in Los Angeles show Judge Brenda Penny refused the request while rubber-stamping Bessemer Trust’s role as co-conservator of the estate.
Jamie has denied wrongdoing and alleged “he has been cut off from communicating” with Britney, in legal documents obtained by TMZ.
Instead, he placed the blame on Britney’s current conservator Jodi Montgomery for any issues over whether Britney was forbidden from marrying her boyfriend Sam Asghari or having a baby.
Britney, 39, herself called law enforcement in Ventura County, California, “to report herself as a victim of conservatorship abuse” just hours before heading into court on June 23, The New Yorker reported on Saturday.
Gaetz and colleagues appear to be asking for the star’s power and influence to share her struggles and possibly use the machinations of Washington to reshape current conservatorship policies.
“Congress can make things better and you can inform our policy decisions. If you will speak to Congress, we are ready to listen,” according to the letter
“Please take advantage of the empowerment that public congressional testimony can unlock.”
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