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Former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz was chosen by Donald Trump as the brand new legal professional basic. In his November 13, 2024, announcement by way of Reality Social, the president-elect referred to as Gaetz a “deeply gifted and tenacious legal professional” who was “educated on the William & Mary School of Regulation.” Trump went on to say that his AG decide will “finish weaponized authorities, defend our borders, dismantle prison organizations and restore America’s badly-shattered religion and confidence within the justice division.”
Beforehand, Gaetz was accused of participating in sexual activity with a 17-year-old woman and paying for her journey, The New York Instances first reported in March 2021. The age of sexual consent in Florida is eighteen. On the time, the Division of Justice investigated whether or not Gaetz violated intercourse trafficking legal guidelines.
Gaetz, nonetheless, vehemently denied all allegations in an announcement. In what Fox Information’ Tucker Carlson referred to as his “weirdest interview ever,” Gaetz claimed on the time that the allegations have been a part of an ongoing effort to extort him and his household. “Over the previous a number of weeks my household and I’ve been victims of an organized prison extortion involving a former DOJ official looking for $25 million whereas threatening to smear my identify… I demand the DOJ instantly launch the tapes, made at their path, which implicate their former colleague in crimes towards me based mostly on false allegations,” he mentioned.
“I’ve not had a relationship with a 17-year-old,” Gaetz mentioned in his Tucker Carlson Tonight interview. “That’s completely false. The allegation is, I learn it within the New York Instances, is that I’ve traveled with some 17-year-old in some relationship. That’s false, and information will bear that out to be false. Offering for flights and resort rooms for those that you’re courting who’re of authorized age shouldn’t be against the law… Folks have been speaking a couple of minor and that there have been photos of me with youngster prostitutes. That’s clearly false. There shall be no such photos, as a result of no such factor occurred.”
Matt Gaetz vows to Tucker Carlson he did not “journey” with a 17-year-old, however his denial appears fairly particular and punctiliously worded pic.twitter.com/emGePJeVfV
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 31, 2021
He claimed that his father, former president of the Florida state Senate Donald Gaetz, “has even been carrying a wire on the FBI’s path to catch these criminals.” The previous DOJ official Gaetz named was legal professional David McGee, who denied any involvement within the investigation or makes an attempt to exort the household to The Washington Publish. McGee confirmed that Donald Gaetz had reached out to him to debate a topic he declined to reveal.
Gaetz reportedly gained a status when he arrived to Congress in 2017 for bragging about his sexual exploits, a number of sources instructed CNN. The sources alleged that Gatz confirmed pictures and movies of nude ladies whom he slept with, which he stored on his cellphone, to different lawmakers (together with on the Home flooring). The sources, allegedly together with two folks proven the specific materials, instructed CNN that Gaetz described having intercourse with the ladies as properly.
Gaetz may have been charged below the Mann Act, which prohibits bringing anybody throughout state traces “with intent that such particular person interact in prostitution, or in any sexual exercise for which any particular person will be charged with a prison offense.” The investigation opened in 2020 below President Trump’s administration. Gaetz instructed Axios, “The allegations towards me are as searing as they’re false. I imagine that there are folks on the Division of Justice who’re attempting to criminalize my sexual conduct, you understand once I was a single man.”
Nonetheless, the DOJ concluded its investigation and didn’t cost Gaetz with any crimes.
Right here’s what else you must learn about Gaetz:
Gaetz Was Additionally Investigated For Allegedly Paying Girls On-line For Intercourse
The DOJ’s investigation is concentrated on Gaetz’s alleged involvement with “a number of ladies who have been recruited on-line for intercourse and obtained money funds,” The New York Instances reported on April 1. Investigators imagine that Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector in Florida who was indicted in 2020 on a federal intercourse trafficking cost, met the ladies in query on web sites the place ladies go on dates in alternate for presents and cash, based on sources who spoke with the paper. Investigators declare Greenberg launched the ladies to Gaetz, who allegedly had intercourse with them. Gaetz has denied ever paying a lady for intercourse.
The New York Instances claims they reviewed receipts from Money App and Apple Pay that present cash despatched to one of many ladies by Gaetz and Greenberg, and from Greenberg to a different girl. Gaetz and Greenberg allegedly instructed ladies to fulfill them at motels and different places in Florida all through 2019 and 2020. One girl instructed the paper that Gaetz and Greenberg additionally generally paid her in money.
Gaetz As soon as Claimed the Capitol Assaults Weren’t All Trump Supporters
Gaetz incorrectly claimed that it was Antifa members and not all Trump supporters who laid siege on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. He declared, “Among the individuals who breached the Capitol at the moment weren’t Trump supporters. They have been masquerading as Trump supporters and actually, have been members of the violent terrorist group Antifa,” to rounds of “boo’s” throughout a speech on the Home flooring early the next morning. Gaetz was flagged by Twitter for “glorifying violence” following an outrageous June 1, 2020 tweet amid the nationwide George Floyd police protests by writing, “Now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do these within the Center East?”
Gaetz has represented Florida’s 1st congressional district since 2016, and has been reelected twice since. He’s a member of the Home Freedom Caucus and sits on the next committees: Committee on Armed Companies, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, Committee on the Funds, Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Mental Property and the Web, Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Industrial and Antitrust Regulation. He has not been faraway from any committees since information broke of his DOJ investigation.
He Voted ‘No’ on a Invoice Combatting Human Trafficking
Gaetz was the one Rep who voted “no” on the Combating Human Trafficking in Industrial Automobiles Act in 2017. The invoice allocates further authorities assets to fight human trafficking in america. Gaetz mentioned on Fb Reside that he opposed the invoice as a result of it represented “mission creep” of federal authorities. “Except there may be an amazing, compelling motive that our current businesses within the federal authorities can’t deal with that downside, I vote no as a result of voters in Northwest Florida didn’t ship me to Washington to go and create extra federal authorities,” Gaetz mentioned.
He’s Been a Staunch Supporter of Donald Trump
Gaetz has alienated himself from Congressional colleagues for his fervent Trump help. All through Trump’s presidency, Gaetz was always featured on Fox Information and OAN parroting Trump’s rhetoric. When Trump referred to as Haiti a “sh*thole nation” in 2018, Gaetz backed him up by tweeting, “The situations in Haiti are deplorable, they’re disgusting. I imply, in every single place you look in Haiti, it’s sheet metallic and rubbish.” Gaetz was so loyal to Trump that he even mentioned he’d resign his Home seat to symbolize Trump in his second impeachment trial if requested to affix his authorized staff.
Gaetz Was A part of the #FreeBritney Motion
Britney Spears discovered a not possible ally in Gaetz. The congressman requested in March that Home Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) host a televised inquiry into the due strategy of conservatorships, and particularly talked about the “Poisonous” singer in his letter. In his letter, Gaetz introduced up many factors of rivalry that appeared within the documentary Framing Britney Spears, together with how her father took place having management — and preserving it — over Britney’s life by way of the conservatorship.
“The info and circumstancing giving rise to this association stay in dispute however contain questionable motives and authorized ways by her father and now-conservator, Jamie Spears,” he wrote. Gaetz later tweeted on Mar. 9 that “I believe @britneyspears could be a terrific witness within the Home Judiciary Committee. She would probably have loads to say on conservatorships. #FreeBritney”
