Thursday, April 01, 2021

TODAY'S FOOL
DOJ investigation into Matt Gaetz looking at allegations he paid women, who were recruited online, for sex, NYT reports

Kelsey Vlamis and Azmi Haroun

Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz 
Ngan-Pool/Getty Images

A DOJ inquiry into Matt Gaetz is looking into direct payments he made to women, The New York Times reported.

Sources told The Times Gaetz and a political ally connected with the women online.

Gaetz is currently being investigated over possible sex trafficking
.

A Justice Department investigation into GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida is looking into money he and a political ally paid directly to women via apps, The New York Times reported Thursday. According to the report, which cited several unnamed sources familiar with the case, the women said they were paid for sex.

Sources told The Times that Joel Greenberg, the former tax collector in Seminole County, Florida, who has been indicted on multiple counts including those related to sex trafficking, connected with women online.

Gaetz has denied ever paying for sex.

"Matt Gaetz has never paid for sex," his office said in a statement to The Times. "Matt Gaetz refutes all the disgusting allegations completely. Matt Gaetz has never ever been on any such websites whatsoever. Matt Gaetz cherishes the relationships in his past and looks forward to marrying the love of his life."

Read more: Republicans are unloading on Rep. Matt Gaetz in gossipy texts and snide asides amid reports of a DOJ sex investigation: 'He's the meanest person in politics'

On Thursday, The Times, citing four people familiar with the investigation, reported that Gaetz and Greenberg are both being investigated for potentially having illegal sexual relationships with the same 17-year-old woman, as well as with other women who they allegedly paid to have sex.

The report claims that Greenberg introduced Gaetz to several women via websites like SeekingArrangements.com, where wealthy people and members can seek "sugar daddy" relationships, oftentimes sex and intimacy in exchange for gifts.

According to The Times report, Gaetz and Greenberg met various women at hotels in Florida and paid for sexual encounters.

Gaetz offered MDMA to at least one woman and used the drug himself during one sexual encounter, according to people familiar with the meetups and with the Justice Department interviews, The Times reported.

The Times reviewed Cash App transactions between Greenberg, Gaetz, and several women mentioned in the interviews.

In August 2020, Greenberg was indicted on fourteen counts, including sex trafficking charges related to a minor between the age of 14 and 17. According to the Orlando Sentinel, prosecutors allege that Greenberg used his access as an elected official to seek information on women via the Florida Driver and Vehicle Information Database and engage relationships with them.

On Tuesday, an explosive report from The New York Times revealed that Gaetz is under federal investigation for potentially violating federal sex trafficking laws. The Times reported that the investigation into Gaetz stemmed from the federal investigation into Greenberg.


The Times wrote that the Department of Justice is looking into "whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him," possibly violating federal sex-trafficking laws. The investigation was opened by the Department of Justice in the final months of former President Donald Trump's administration, according to The Times.

Since news of the sex-trafficking probe broke, the story has taken many turns.

Gaetz immediately denied the allegations and claimed that he and his family are victims of an extortion scheme. Hours after Tuesday's story in The Times, Gaetz appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News, vehemently denying the allegations and repeating the extortion claims.

Gaetz said the extortion scheme started weeks ago, but the sex-trafficking investigation started last year.

On Thursday, separate from the investigation, CNN also reported that Gaetz showed House colleagues nude photos of women he had slept with, and bragged openly about his sex life.

Insider reached out to Gaetz's office for additional comment.


‘Proclivity for younger women’: Matt Gaetz’s colleagues say he has a ‘love of alcohol and illegal drugs’: report

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
April 01, 2021

www.rawstory.com

The Daily Beast has published a profile of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) who is reportedly under investigation by the DOJ for possibly having a sexual relationship with a 17-year old girl and for possible child sex-trafficking.

The profile was less-than-flattering, with The Beast reporting Gaetz's "less-than-sterling reputation among his colleagues has many Republicans questioning the wisdom of jumping to his defense" – although none have jumped to condemn him either.

"Republicans on and off Capitol Hill on Wednesday largely kept their mouths shut," The Beast reports, while offering up a disturbing revelation about the Florida GOP Congressman.

"Gaetz—the Trump-loving, Fox News-grinning, 38-year-old Florida Republican—has a less-than-sterling reputation among his congressional colleagues," The Beast says, with those colleagues indicting him over alcohol, drugs, and women.

"More than a half-dozen lawmakers have spoken to these reporters about his love of alcohol and illegal drugs, as well as his proclivity for younger women," The Beast reports. "It's well-known among Republican lawmakers that Gaetz was dating a college student—one over the age of consent—in 2018. She came to Washington as an intern."

Then, there's a "cartoonishly scandalous perception of Gaetz [which] is so commonplace that sometimes it's visible, literally, in the halls of Congress. A Hill source sent The Daily Beast a photo of a trash bin outside Gaetz's office as lawmakers cleared out their offices at the end of a recent session. At the top of the heap was an empty Costco-size box of 'Bareskin' Trojan condoms



REPORT: Matt Gaetz Showed Other Lawmakers Photos Of Nude Women On House Floor, Talked About Having Sex With Them

HOW OLD IS THIS GUY? RHETORICAL Q?

Alex Wong/Getty Images

JORDAN LANCASTER
REPORTER
April 01, 2021

Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz reportedly showed other lawmakers, including while on the House floor, photos and videos of nude women and talked about having sex with them, according to CNN.

The report cites multiple anonymous sources, including two people who claim to have been shown the photos directly. The sources alleged that Gaetz talked about having sex with the women whose photos he displayed on his phone. One source claimed that a video showed a naked woman with a hula-hoop.

One of the sources said “it was a point of pride” for the representative, CNN reported. (RELATED: Wednesday Morning Dispatch: The Latest On The Matt Gaetz Sex Trafficking Accusations)

Gaetz said Tuesday he is the subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation that reportedly involves a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl. The congressman denied any allegation of wrongdoing and said he is a victim of a $25 million extortion plot.

There is no evidence to suggest the photos are connected to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) investigation into the sex trafficking allegations, CNN reported.

The DOJ opened the investigation into Gaetz at the end of the Trump administration, The New York Times reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.

“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,” Gaetz said in a press release. “We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter and my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI’s direction to catch these criminals.”

Gaetz alleged that a former federal prosecutor named David McGee who was “a top official in the leadership in the northern district of Florida as a prosecutor” was trying to extort him Tuesday night on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

“The planted leak to the New York Times tonight was intended to thwart that investigation,” the press release continued. “No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets of the ongoing extortion investigation. I demand the DOJ immediately release the tapes, made at their direction, which implicate their former colleague in crimes against me based on false allegations.”

Gaetz’s office did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller’s request for comment.



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