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    • Matt Gaetz’s trafficking allegations follow him after AG election
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    Matt Gaetz’s trafficking allegations follow him after AG election

    Harry Posted on

    Matt Gaetz, recently elected attorney general, has been roiled by controversy regarding sex trafficking allegations against a 17-year-old girl.

    President-elect Donald Trump Florida chooses Rep. Matt Gaetz as next attorney generalHowever, the decision raised questions in the political arena. including some Republican friendsin part due to previous sexual harassment allegations brought against the 42-year-old politician and lawyer.

    Trump called Gaetz “an extremely talented and tenacious lawyer” in his announcement on Truth Social on Wednesday.

    “(Gaetz) stood out in Congress for his focus on achieving urgently needed reform of the Justice Department.” Trump said in his post on Truth Social:. “There are few issues in America more important than ending the partisan weaponization of our Justice System.”

    Republican senators, including Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), have expressed skepticism about Gaetz’s selection ahead of his expected confirmation hearing. While Murkowski said that this was not a “serious candidacy”, Collins stated that she was “shocked” when she learned of Trump’s decision and that “many questions will be asked at his hearing”.

    In addition to being a staunch critic of the U.S. Department of Justice, Gaetz may also face questions about previous sexual harassment allegations. Here’s what you need to know about the allegations that could follow Gaetz to the Justice Department.

    Department of Justice investigated Matt Gaetz for allegedly sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl

    In March 2021, New York Times It was first reported that the US Department of Justice was investigating Gaetz for alleged human trafficking and sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old girl.

    Not only was Gaetz accused of paying the underage girl for sex (which allegedly occurred around 2019), but investigators also charged him with travel expenses outside state lines, according to the New York Times, which cited “three people who were notified of the matter.” They also believed that he paid.

    Three people told the press that the then-38-year-old was part of a larger investigation into political ally and local Florida official Joel Greenberg. Department of Justice files lawsuit against Greenberg In the summer of 2020, a lawsuit was filed on multiple charges, including sex trafficking of a child and providing financial support to individuals in exchange for sexual favors.

    Greenberg, a Republican who was a tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County before his indictment, took a plea deal in May 2021 and admitted to federal prosecutors that he paid women and an underage girl to have sex with him and other unidentified men. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2022.

    Throughout the investigation, Gaetz has emphatically denied any involvement. The Justice Department did not file any charges against Gaetz, but he remained under investigation by the U.S. House Ethics Committee for child sexual abuse and illegal drug use until his resignation on Wednesday.

    Matt Gaetz denies 2017 ‘orgy’ news

    According to a report prepared by NOTES Sealed testimony from three witnesses in the sex scandal case involving Greenberg and others allege that he arranged for Gaetz to attend an “orgy” in 2017 that included illegal drugs and a naked underage girl.

    Federal court filings, which include the sealed deposition, show for the first time since the conclusion of the Justice Department investigation that Gaetz was a long-rumored party, the Washington-based media outlet reported.

    The filings cited testimony from “AB,” the 17-year-old girl at the center of the case, and two other women who claimed Gaetz attended an “orgy” in the Lake Mary, Florida, area on July 15, 2017. To NOTUS.

    When contacted by Pensacola News Journal − Part of the USA TODAY Network − In September, a spokesperson for Gaetz said: “Congressman Gaetz has never participated in the activities reflected in the NOTUS reports. If people say otherwise, they are either confused or lying. This special correspondent used to work. The Daily Beast predicted in its liberal publication that the congressman would be arrested in 2021. “Apparently he had to find another job.”

    The testimonies of women who claim Gaetz attended the party are taken from depositions and affidavits cited in a lawsuit between Joel Greenberg’s family and former Florida Rep. Christopher Dorworth, the alleged host of the party, the News Journal reported.

    Dorworth filed a federal defamation lawsuit in 2023 against the 17-year-old Greenberg and some of Greenberg’s family members, accusing them of “conspiring with AB, Joel’s sex trafficking victim, to falsely accuse Dorworth and Gaetz of sexual assault.”

    US House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Gaetz ended after resignation

    The U.S. House Ethics Committee’s investigation into child sexual abuse allegations against Gaetz ended with the lawyer resigning from Congress in November. Michael Guest, Republican chairman of the House Ethics Committee. he told reporters.

    “If he were to be appointed, then he would have to resign his position in the House, so at that point the ethics investigation would be over, just like any other member, we only have jurisdiction as the Ethics Committee as long as a person is serving as a member of Congress,” Guest told CNN. to.

    Committee, expanded its investigation in June He was due to decide on Friday whether to release the report to include additional allegations, but his resignation effectively ended the investigation. USA TODAY reported.

    Gaetz was the subject of a three-year investigation by the panel over allegations of sexual harassment, illegal drug use, accepting “inappropriate gifts” and granting special privileges to people with whom he was in a relationship.

    It’s unclear whether the report will be released anytime soon, especially given Gaetz’s recent candidacy for attorney general.

    Contributors: Kevin Robinson and Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal; Bart Jansen, Joey Garrison and Riley Beggin, USA TODAY

    Harry
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