On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced it is launching an investigation into the previous relationship of a U.S. representative for Florida’s 1st congressional district.
What We Know:
- The investigation will determine whether or not Republican Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl back in 2019 and violated federal laws against sex trafficking in the process. Gaetz confirmed the investigation but has denied any wrongdoing. “The allegations against me are as searing as they are false,” he told Axios.
“I believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to criminalize my sexual conduct, you know, when I was a single guy,” he continued.
- He claims that the department is criminalizing his generosity towards ex-girlfriends. When asked if he had any interactions with underage girls, Gaetz claims he was “absolutely” sure he did not. According to a briefing of the incident, investigators are examining Gaetz’s encounters with the girl to determine whether he paid for her to travel with him and broke federal sex-trafficking laws in the process.
- After news of the criminal inquiry spread, Gaetz took to social media to defend himself in multiple tweets, writing, “Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name. No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets of the ongoing extortion investigation.”
Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name.
We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter…
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) March 30, 2021
- The probe is part of a larger investigation into Joel Greenberg, a tax collector from Florida who was charged last year with 14 felony counts related to allegations that he stalked a political opponent, used a state database to create fake IDs, and carried out the sex trafficking of a minor between the ages of 14 and 17.
Gaetz has told confidants that he is considering not seeking re-election and possibly leaving Congress early for a position at the conservative website Newsmax.
