US Representative Matt Gaetz.Photo:SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty
A reopened House Ethics Committee probe of Florida Rep.Matt Gaetzhas widened in recent weeks, withABC Newsreporting that “multiple new witnesses” have been contacted in the investigation.
The committee’s investigators initially deferred an investigation into Gaetz following a request from the Department of Justice, which was conducting its own investigation. But last June, reports surfaced that thecommittee was re-examining allegationssurrounding the controversial lawmaker, who has been a driving force behind the House GOP’s recent division and stoked the months-long speakership battle in 2023.
Agrand jury separately investigatedwhether the Florida Republican had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid her to travel with him, though investigators recommended not moving forward with trafficking charges against the lawmaker.
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz leaves a closed-door meeting in the House Judiciary Committee room on June 4, 2021.Drew Angerer/Getty
Drew Angerer/Getty
News of the federal investigation into Gaetz first broke in March 2021 and, according toTheNew York Times, was opened in the final months of the Trump administration under then-Attorney GeneralBill Barr.
The probe involving Gaetz reportedly spun out of another investigation, into Joel Greenberg, his friend and former GOP official from Seminole County, Florida.
Greenberg wasindicted on a range of charges, including sex trafficking of a child, in 2020. In May 2021, hepleaded guiltyto multiple charges including sex trafficking a minor and was believed to be cooperating with authorities.
The House Ethics Committee first announced it, too,had begun an investigation into Gaetzin April 2021, saying in a statement, “The Committee is aware of public allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct.”
But ina later report, the committee said it “had not completed its investigation into this matter,” and had “deferred consideration of the matter in response to a request from DOJ.”
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Gaetz, who assumed office in 2017, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, previously insisting to multiple news outlets that the overarching case was “rooted in an extortion effort” against him.
source: people.com
