The Ethics Committee is investigating Gaetz—and has text messages between the congressman and a woman who claims she had sex with Gaetz at parties she was paid to attend.
When ABC News reported on Wednesday that the House Ethics Committee had acquired text messages between a young woman involved in the sex trafficking investigation and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a Gaetz spokesperson told ABC that the congressman “does not know anything about the woman you’re referencing.”
That seems extraordinarily unlikely.
The Daily Beast can now report that this woman told prosecutors in 2021 that she had sex with Gaetz at a drug-fueled party that she was paid to attend, according to the woman’s attorney.
This attorney told The Daily Beast on Thursday that the woman, in fact, received payments in connection with multiple sex parties with people in Gaetz’s circle. … she turned over text messages, photos, and other evidence to the Justice Department as part of its child sex trafficking inquiry …
The Daily Beast has obtained some of those messages and photos, which match the documents described by ABC News.
… the House Ethics Committee is now reviewing this evidence as part of its inquiry into whether Gaetz paid for sex with women and with an underage teen. In fact, the Ethics Committee met Thursday afternoon behind closed doors to discuss the Gaetz case, which also involves allegations of public corruption, solicitation of prostitution, habitual use of hard drugs, bribes or impermissible gifts, campaign finance violations, and exhibiting nude photos of sexual partners on the House floor.
… when it became apparent Gaetz was being investigated in 2021, she was contacted by another male party attendee—a Gaetz associate—who … intimidate[d] her into not describing any of the events related to Gaetz, the lawyer said.
The woman, whose name The Daily Beast is withholding, was older than 21 at the time of the encounters, the attorney said, noting that she emphasized to prosecutors that the sex was consensual.
Rare Gaetz consensual double u (all things considered, I mean she wasn’t 17!)
“She told them that she and lots of girls were provided all kinds of controlled substances at these parties,” the lawyer said … The heavy use of drugs and alcohol was a hurdle for investigators, he said, since it muddled memories of the events.
“The availability of vast amounts of alcohol and controlled substances gave rise to the lack of control of the hormonal imperative,” this lawyer continued, “which inspired people to engage in intimate behavior that may or may not have been because they were financially remunerated.”
This woman appears in Venmo transactions previously reported on by The Daily Beast. Between March and July 2017, this woman received nearly $2,500 across multiple payments from Gaetz’s then-best friend, locally elected tax collector Joel Greenberg. The descriptions Greenberg entered for her payments included “travel,” “being cool,” “stuff,” and the misspelled first name of another Greenberg associate.
The text messages now in the hands of congressional investigators show Gaetz propositioning the woman for a May 2017 private group flight to the Florida Keys, where they would be joined by three women and one other man.
“Hey—any interest in flying on a private plane to the keys May 19-21?” … with “2 guys, 4 girls. A very high-quality adventurous group.”
The woman initially agreed, to which Gaetz replied, “Fantastic.”
“As is true with all time you spend w me, it’ll be fun and chill,” Gaetz wrote. He then asked if she had a passport, and she replied that she did.
The woman ultimately declined to make the trip … [but] one [woman] received a $500 payment described as “Cuba.”
(… Gaetz privately boasted about taking a trip to Cuba around this time [per Daily Beast informant].)
ABC News & Daily Beast 💪
Rare Gaetz consensual double u (all things considered, I mean she wasn’t 17!)