The Department of Justice is investigating whether or not Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old woman and paid for her travels with him, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
The authorities is inspecting whether or not Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking legal guidelines, based on the newspaper, which cited three folks briefed on the probe. The congressman has not been charged.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference being held within the Hyatt Regency on February 26, 2021 in Orlando, Florida.
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The Justice Department declined to remark to CNBC on the Times report.
Gaetz, a 38-year-old conservative firebrand and shut ally of former President Donald Trump, in an announcement Tuesday denied the reported allegations towards him. He stated that he is being threatened in a $25 million “organized legal extortion” scheme.
Gaetz went on to say he was cooperating with the FBI and that his father “has even been carrying a wire on the FBI’s route.”
“No half of the allegations towards me are true, and the folks pushing these lies are targets of the continuing extortion investigation,” Gaetz’s assertion stated.
The congressman stated in his assertion that the extortion try has been waged towards him and his household “over the previous a number of weeks.” But the DOJ’s examination of Gaetz was opened within the ultimate months of Trump’s administration under then-Attorney General William Barr, two sources informed the Times.
The Justice Department informed Gaetz’s attorneys that he was a topic of an investigation, not the goal, the congressman informed the newspaper.
“I solely know that it has to do with ladies,” Gaetz informed the Times. “I’ve a suspicion that somebody is attempting to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as one thing extra untoward.”
Gaetz equally informed Axios on Tuesday that he didn’t know what the precise allegations towards him have been.
Asked what they could relate to, Gaetz informed the outlet: “I’ve positively, in my single days, offered for ladies I’ve dated. You know, I’ve paid for flights, for resort rooms. I’ve been, , beneficiant as a associate. I feel somebody is attempting to make that look legal when it isn’t.”
Gaetz has privately stated he is contemplating probably leaving Congress early to take a job at conservative information outlet Newsmax, Axios reported earlier Tuesday.
