© Associated PressRep. Matt Gaetz speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference
The Department of Justice investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) reportedly involves cash paid to multiple women who were recruited for sex online,
The New York Times reported, citing payment recipients and text messages.
The
Times reported Thursday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) probe into Gaetz also involves former Seminole County, Fla., tax collector Joel Greenberg, who allegedly met women online on websites for dates in exchange for gifts and travel. Greenberg allegedly introduced the women to Gaetz, people familiar with the matter told the
Times.
Messages and interviews indicate Greenberg and Gaetz directed the women to meet them at specific times and locations and laid out the amount of money for which they would be compensated. People familiar with the matter told the
Times that the illegal drug ecstasy would at times be consumed.
Receipts on mobile payment apps reviewed by the
Times showed money from Gaetz and Greenberg being sent to one of the women, who told friends it was for having sex with both men. A person interviewed by the
Times said the men would sometimes use hotel ATMs to pay in cash.
Gaetz did not respond to requests for comment by
The Hill on Thursday.
Earlier on Thursday, CNN
reported that Gaetz showed lawmakers nude photos of women he said he had sex with, including while he was conducting business on the House floor. It is unclear whether the photos Gaetz reportedly showed to his colleagues are connected to the DOJ investigation.
One GOP lawmaker told
The Hill on Thursday that they had not seen the photos but that Gaetz had "just bragged to me about some conquest in my district."
On Tuesday, the
Times reported that the Florida Republican was being investigated by DOJ over whether he had sex with a 17-year-old girl and whether he violated any sex trafficking laws.
Gaetz has denied allegations that he had sex with a minor.
Gaetz told Fox News's Tucker Carlson on Tuesday the allegations he had sex with a minor and traveled with her across state lines were "verifiably false." He also claimed that he and his family are targets of an extortion scheme by a former DOJ official seeking millions of dollars.
"People can look at my travel records and see that that is not the case," Gaetz said.
House Republicans have largely remained silent on the matter, with only House Judiciary Ranking Member Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) coming to his defense.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) acknowledged the gravity of the allegations during an appearance on Fox News on Thursday,
but said he wants additional evidence before taking disciplinary action such as removing Gaetz from committees.Members of House GOP leadership, including McCarthy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether they would call for the Florida Republican to step down in the wake of the most recent allegations.
Comment: It has been a rollercoaster story. From The
NY Post March 31,where Gaetz claimed he was the target of an extortion plot, :
The former Department of Justice official accused of trying to extort $25 million from Rep. Matt Gaetz slammed the allegations as a "blatant attempt to distract" from the federal sex-trafficking probe that's underway.
David McGee, a former federal prosecutor in Florida who is now working at the firm Beggs & Lane, denied blackmailing Gaetz, who is under investigation for his alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl.
"It is completely false," McGee told the Washington Post. "It's a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that he's under investigation for sex trafficking of minors."
McGee added, "I have no connection with that case at all, other than, one of a thousand people who have heard the rumors."
After news of the probe involving Gaetz broke on Tuesday, the Florida congressman accused McGee of trying to shake his family down for $25 million.
The Republican claimed the existence of the DOJ probe was leaked to the media in an effort to thwart the FBI investigation into the alleged extortion plot.
"On March 16, my father got a text message demanding a meeting wherein a person demanded $25 million in exchange for making horrible sex trafficking allegations against me go away," Gaetz said on Fox News, while identifying that person as McGee.
"Our family was so troubled by that, we went to the local FBI. The FBI and the Department of Justice were so concerned about this attempted extortion of a member of Congress that they asked my dad to wear a wire, which he did, with the former Department of Justice official."
Gaetz called on the FBI to release the tapes — and McGee welcomed that idea.
"If there is a tape, play the tape," McGee said. "There is nothing on that tape that is untoward. It is a pleasant conversation of a dad concerned about his son and the trouble his son was in."
McGee told the Washington Post that Gaetz's father had "called me and asked to talk to me" but did not elaborate on the conversation.
Gaetz, 38, a close ally of former President Trump, denied the allegations that he was involved with a minor.
"In the strongest possible terms. I deny that I have ever been with someone underage," he told The Post Tuesday. "That is false."
He said he became aware of the probe after two of his ex-girlfriends were contacted by authorities.
"They were asked why I had given them plane tickets, money, and other interactions. They were in their 20s," he said.
Apparently Gaetz couldn't keep from boasting about his various relationships. However, the question is whether any of them were with underage girls:
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) showed photos of nude women who he claimed he had sex with to other lawmakers, multiple sources told CNN.
Two sources, who claim they were shown the material directly, said that the photos were "a point of pride" for Gaetz.
The sources also told the news outlet that Gaetz, 38, showed them the photos while conducting business on the House floor, adding that the Florida lawmaker displayed the images on his phone and talked about having sex with the women.
One source claimed that they were shown a video of a naked woman with a hula hoop.
The Hill has reached out to Gaetz's office for comment.
The news from CNN comes after The New York Times first reported on Tuesday that he was being investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) over an alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl.
Investigators are probing whether or not the lawmaker has violated federal sex trafficking laws by paying the girl to travel with him. The probe was opened during the last months of the Trump administration, under former Attorney General William Barr.
The DOJ's investigation into Gaetz, a vocal Trump ally, is part of a larger investigation involving former Florida county tax collector Joel Greenberg, who faces charges of sex trafficking a child and providing payment to people, including a female minor in exchange for sex.
Gaetz is
not budging, at least for now:
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) has pushed back against calls for him to resign following his communications director stepping down amid an inquiry into allegations of a relationship with a minor and his having paid for sex.
Gaetz told The Hill on Friday that rumors he is leaving office are "false," and it is "very safe" to say he will remain in office amid a Department of Justice (DOJ) inquiry into whether the congressman violated sex trafficking laws.
...
Gaetz, one of former president Donald Trump's most vocal supporters, has denied any wrongdoing and said the inquiry is part of an attempt by a DOJ official to extort money from him, even claiming the FBI is aware of the situation. He has also said the alleged minor "does not exist."
The weight of the accusations, however, has led many critics to call for Gaetz's resignation. Gaetz's communications director, Luke Ball, reportedly stepped down on Friday amid the controversy.
Speaking to the news platform Axios following reports of the DOJ inquiry, Gaetz said he was not the target of any investigation and had a "suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward."
Notice the media outlets gleefully running with the most sordid version of the story are uniformly Deep State mouthpieces. It is important to wait for all the facts to come out before passing judgement. Gaetz may have fallen prey to the weaknesses men in power are subject to, but that is not the same as committing a felony. Nothing would make Pelosi and the Democrat machine happier than removing Gaetz, who has been
a thorn in their side since
the beginning of the Trump administration. And the Dems are not above fabricating evidence. The '
Dirty Dossier' proved that.
BTW, if you look at that previously badly photoshopped picture of Cruz, you can even see the black 'cutout' areas behind his right ear of his pasted head.
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