WASHINGTON — Two ladies advised Home Ethics Committee investigators that former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who has been tapped to be lawyer common within the subsequent Trump administration, paid them for intercourse, and one of many ladies testified she noticed him having intercourse with a 17-year-old, in line with an lawyer for the ladies.
Joel Leppard, who represents the 2 ladies, described the testimony his shoppers gave the Home ethics panel, which has been investigating the Florida Republican over allegations of intercourse trafficking involving a 17-year-old lady. The Justice Division individually ended its personal intercourse trafficking investigation into Gaetz with out prison expenses.
The Home committee’s investigation successfully ended final week when Gaetz resigned from Congress after Trump nominated him to guide the Justice Division.
Gaetz has denied ever having a relationship with a 17-year-old, and some other wrongdoing. A lawyer who has represented Gaetz stated he wouldn’t reply any questions when reached Tuesday by The Related Press.
A Trump transition spokesperson stated Tuesday that they’re “baseless allegations intended to derail the second Trump administration,” including that the Justice Division “investigated Gaetz for years and cleared him of wrongdoing.”
Gaetz is dealing with mounting scrutiny over the allegations, which threaten his complicate his path to be confirmed because the nation’s prime federal legislation enforcement officer. A number of Republicans within the Senate which have expressed concern about his nomination or refused to say publicly but whether or not they are going to assist him.
Each of Leppard’s shoppers advised Home investigators that they had been paid for intercourse by Gaetz, typically by means of Venmo, the lawyer stated.
Trump’s decide of Gaetz has roiled many profession Justice Division attorneys, who privately have expressed concern about having him lead the identical company that investigated the intercourse trafficking allegations involving underage ladies. Trump, who has railed towards the Justice Division over the 2 prison circumstances introduced towards him, has described Gaetz as the best particular person to “root out the systemic corruption” inside the company.
The Home Ethics Committee started its overview of Gaetz in April 2021, deferred its work in response to a Justice Division request, and renewed its work shortly after Gaetz introduced that the Justice Division had ended its intercourse trafficking investigation.
Over the summer season, the committee offered an uncommon public replace into its long-running investigation, saying its overview now contains whether or not Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper items and sought to hinder authorities investigations of his conduct.
The Home’s investigation is separate from the Justice Division’s intercourse trafficking probe, which started underneath Legal professional Normal Invoice Barr throughout Trump’s first time period centered on allegations that Gaetz and onetime political ally Joel Greenberg paid underage ladies and escorts or provided them items in trade for intercourse.
Greenberg, a fellow Republican who served because the tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, admitted as a part of a plea take care of prosecutors in 2021 that he paid ladies and an underage lady to have intercourse with him and different males. The lads weren’t recognized in court docket paperwork when he pleaded responsible. Greenberg was sentenced in late 2022 to 11 years in jail.
Federal investigators scrutinized a visit that Gaetz took to the Bahamas, with a gaggle of girls and a physician who donated to his marketing campaign, and whether or not the ladies had been paid or obtained items to have intercourse with the lads, in line with individuals accustomed to the matter who weren’t allowed to publicly talk about the investigation. Prosecutors additionally investigated whether or not Gaetz and his associates tried to safe authorities jobs for a number of the ladies, and scrutinized Gaetz’s connections to the medical marijuana sector, together with whether or not his associates sought to affect laws Gaetz sponsored, the individuals have stated.