10/31/2021 Sitting U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz chatting up attacking House metal detectors with explosives.
All perfectly normal, right?
9/27/2021 An Attorney Ken White tweet. Click to read his analysis.
926/2021 GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz said Tucker Carlson is correct about white nationalist 'replacement' conspiracy theory and called ADL racist, by Kelsey Vlamis, Insider
9/25/2021 A Republican saying the quiet part out loud, Martin Pengelly in The Guardian
This Matt Gaetz tweet is just a click away
8/12/2021 Joel Greenberg Providing Investigators With ‘Thousands of Photos and Videos’ Probably Doesn’t Bode Well for Matt Gaetz, by Ryan Bort, Rolling Stone
A periodic reminder that the congressman is under investigation for sex trafficking a 17-year-old
5/14/2021 Former Gaetz Confidant Agrees to Plead Guilty and Cooperate, by Michael S. Schmidt, The New York Times
- "A former confidant of Representative Matt Gaetz admitted in court papers on Friday to an array of federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl, and agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department’s ongoing investigations."
- "Mr. Greenberg did not implicate Mr. Gaetz by name in court papers filed by prosecutors in Federal District Court in Orlando. But Mr. Greenberg admitted that he “introduced the minor to other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts” with her, according to the documents, and that he was sometimes present. The others were not named. Mr. Gaetz is said to be under investigation."
- News reports have portrayed Gaetz and other Florida Republicans as partiers and devotees of the sex&rave drug, Ecstasy. When that wasn't enough, they made the sex transactional.
- Why else would anyone sleep with a loudmouthed creep like Gaetz?
4/29/2021 Bombshell Letter: Gaetz Paid for Sex With Minor, Greenberg Says, by Jose Pagliery and Roger Sollenberger, Daily Beast
“From time to time, gas money or gifts, rent or partial tuition payments were made to several of these girls, including the individual who was not yet 18. I did see the acts occur firsthand and Venmo transactions, Cash App or other payments were made to these girls on behalf of the Congressman.”
The letter, which The Daily Beast recently obtained, was written after Greenberg—who was under federal indictment—asked Roger Stone to help him secure a pardon from then-President Donald Trump.
- “If I get you $250k in Bitcoin would that help or is this not a financial matter,” Greenberg wrote to Roger Stone, one message shows.
- “I hope you are prepared to wire me $250,000 because I am feeling confident,” Roger Stone wrote to Greenberg on Jan. 13. [Original texts. ]
- “My lawyers that I fired, know the whole story about MG’s involvement,” Greenberg wrote to Stone on Dec. 21. “They know he paid me to pay the girls and that he and I both had sex with the girl who was underage.”
4/29/2021 Gaetz, Greene plan national tour to call out RINOs, by Marc Caputo, Politico
The Two Clownacts are taking their stupidity on the road to attack both Democrats and Republicans.
4/29/2021 Matt Gaetz’s wingman confesses they trafficked a 17-year-old girl: ‘I saw the acts occur firsthand’ by Sky Palma, DeadState
A confession letter written by friend of Florida GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz and accused sex trafficker, Joel Greenberg, has been obtained by The Daily Beast. The letter was written in the final months of Donald Trump’s presidency and admits that he and Gaetz paid for sex with a girl who was 17-years-old at the time.
4/26/2021 The Crazy Case of Gaetz Wingman’s Fraudulent COVID Relief Loans, by Roger Sollenberger, Daily Beast
Greenberg was himself an elected official at the time—the Seminole County tax collector—and he did not even operate an independent business, let alone one that would qualify for the taxpayer-backed COVID relief loans he sought. He allegedly got around that technicality by reinstating two of his companies that had been defunct for years—DG3 Enterprises and Greenberg Media Group, both terminated in 2016, the year he was first elected tax collector.
Prosecutors say Greenberg, with help from a “Recruiter Conspirator,” conscripted a government loan officer to override the SBA’s automated system. Among the list of criteria that the co-conspirators faked was revenue in the preceding year (a combined $1.2 million), the number of employees (12), operational dates, and, rather remarkably, that Greenberg was not under criminal indictment at the time. He applied for the loan on June 24, the day after federal law enforcement arrested him on charges of identity theft and stalking a political opponent.
But for Greenberg, the son of a wealthy Florida dentistry mogul, that apparently wasn’t enough. On July 21, he received roughly $300,000 from two additional EIDLs, bumping his total to more than $400,000, according to the Project on Government Oversight's COVID loan tracker. He paid the SBA official $3,000 for her trouble, using the online payment platform Cash App, and his friend and co-conspirator pocketed $16,000, according to prosecutors.
Gaetz, who has acknowledged the investigation, also got pandemic relief money. His family-owned senior care company CareGivers Inc, in which Gaetz holds a sizable stake, took in $475,000 in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans.
4/21/2021 New Docs Show Matt Gaetz Campaign in Full Damage-Control Mode, by Roger Sollenberger, The Daily Beast
As part of his public relations scramble, Gaetz has invested heavily in fundraising, paying Nevada-based Red Rock Strategies nearly $160,000 for fundraising consulting. That’s roughly $10,000 more than the campaign spent on fundraising services in 2019 and 2020 combined, according to The Daily Beast’s analysis of filings in the FEC database.
However, one expense in particular will raise eyebrows: A $5,000 “strategic political consulting” fee to Drake Ventures, the company belonging to longtime GOP smear artist and Gaetz associate Roger Stone. On Friday, the DOJ sued Stone and his wife, Nydia, alleging that the couple owes millions in unpaid taxes and have used Drake Ventures to shelter more than $1 million.
The campaign paid Stone’s company on March 24, just days before Gaetz’s father held an in-person meeting with a former DOJ prosecutor, according to a person familiar with the meeting. In a bizarre March 31 interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, Matt Gaetz claimed that his father recorded that conversation at the direction of the FBI, alleging without evidence that the former prosecutor was at the center of a convoluted scheme to extort the congressman. The Gaetz campaign had never paid Drake Ventures until then.
Gaetz has also continued to rack up legal fees, a pattern established last summer around the time the DOJ investigation was reportedly launched. The Daily Beast reported earlier this month that weeks after Greenberg was first indicted—in June 2020—Gaetz paid the law firm Venable LLP $38,000, nearly four times the combined amount of legal fees incurred in the previous five years. The new filing reveals a $21,000 payment to Venable in February, bringing total legal expenses up to $85,000 since Greenberg was charged.
4/21/2021 Roger Stone spent weeks publicly defending Rep. Gaetz after being paid by his campaign, by Matt Gertz, Media Matters
The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that federal campaign finance disclosures reveal Gaetz’s campaign paid Stone’s Drake Ventures $5,000 for “strategic political consulting” fees on March 24. It was the first time the campaign had ever made a payment to the firm.
Stone is a longtime Trump political adviser who at one point was banned from all three major cable news networks over racist and misogynistic commentary and conspiracy theories. Trump and his 2016 campaign tasked Stone to “obtain advance information about WikiLeaks's planned releases'' of Democratic Party emails stolen by Russian intelligence in 2016, and they believed he had succeeded in doing so, according to a Republican-led Senate committee’s investigation. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe ultimately led to his conviction on seven federal felony counts, but Trump commuted his 40-month sentence and ultimately pardoned him. Stone is also connected to the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Like Gaetz, Stone is currently in hot water with the Justice Department. On Friday, federal prosecutors sued him and his wife over an alleged $2 million in unpaid taxes and penalties. Stone claims there’s a conspiracy behind that one, too.
4/20/2021 Matt Gaetz sparked William Barr to drop the f-bomb in a legal spat over Florida voting, by Betsy Woodruff Swan and Daniel Lippman, Politico
Months before news broke that the feds were investigating him for sex trafficking, Rep. Matt Gaetz was at the center of a separate internal fight at the Justice Department. The sparring match involved an Oval Office meeting, a foul-mouthed threat from the attorney general and voting in Florida. It has not been previously reported.
In Aug. 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Larry Keefe — a former law partner of Gaetz’s at the firm Keefe, Anchors & Gordon — as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Florida. More than a year after he was sworn in, and as Joe Biden was locking up the Democratic nomination, Keefe looked to open a wide-ranging probe into voter fraud in Florida, according to two people familiar with the matter.
After Keefe and Gaetz discussed the issue, the congressman had a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House with Trump. Gaetz said Trump brought up his views on fraud connected to mail-in voting. In response, Gaetz brought up Keefe’s legal theory.
“I said to him that an appreciation for the Keefe position on venue would give good U.S. attorneys in every capital city the necessary jurisdiction to root out fraud,” Gaetz said. “I also shared with President Trump that Keefe had faced substantial resistance from the Department of Justice.”
Gaetz said that Trump then told White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who was in the room, to tell Attorney General William Barr that Trump believed Keefe’s legal theory had merit.
When Barr learned about Gaetz’s conversation with the president, he was incensed. The attorney general called the U.S. attorney and gave him an earful, according to two people familiar with the call.
“If I ever hear of you talking to Gaetz or any other congressman again about business before the Department, I am going to fucking fire your ass,” Barr told him, according to one of the people with knowledge of the call.
4/17/2021 How ‘Papa Gaetz’ tells you everything you need to know about Matt Gaetz, by Gary Fineout, Politico
Want to know how Matt Gaetz became who he is today? Just look at his father.
4/16/2021 How Scandal-Plagued Matt Gaetz Became ‘Excommunicado’ at Fox News, by Asawin Suebsaeng, Lachlan Cartwright, Diana Falazone andJustin Baragona, Daily Beast
“It’s highly unlikely you’ll see him on again anytime soon,” one Fox News insider emphasized to The Daily Beast when asked about Gaetz personally returning to any of their TV programming. Honchos at Fox were annoyed—and in some cases infuriated—by their perception that Gaetz, in his first big television interview after the “Gaetzgate” broke, had used two different parts of his Tucker appearance to try to rope the Fox News star into the congressman’s scandal. Multiple people at Fox described it as Gaetz seemingly trying to turn Carlson into an exonerating witness, which caused Carlson palpable discomfort on air.
4/16/2021 Gaetz ex-girlfriend feared alleged sex-trafficking victim taped call for feds, by Marc Caputo and Matt Dixon, Politico
MIAMI — Matt Gaetz’s former girlfriend has told friends she’s worried that the woman who is key to the federal government’s sex-crimes investigation tried to get her to incriminate the Florida lawmaker on a recorded call.
The revelation raises the possibility that federal prosecutors have two top cooperating witnesses: the woman who was an alleged sex-trafficking victim when she was a minor and the Gaetz associate already indicted for that crime, former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg.
Gaetz’s former girlfriend has played a bit role in the unfolding public drama — she is the woman who sent the lawmaker a nude video of her performing a hula hoop dance that he showed to other members of Congress.
4/16/2021 Jimmy Kimmel Heckles ‘Future Former Florida Congressman’ Matt Gaetz, by Trish Bendix, The New York Times
“Kimmel poked fun at Gaetz and his friend Joel Greenberg for making their Venmo transactions public: “One of those ‘salads’ cost more than $1,000 — I guess they added avocado. They didn’t check the privacy box. What’s the opposite of a criminal mastermind?” Jimmy Kimmel joked on Thursday.
4/14/2021 REPORT: MATT GAETZ UPGRADED FROM JUST F--KED TO ROYALLY F--KED, by Bess Levin, Vanity Fair
Last Friday we noted that the Republican lawmaker was “well and truly f--ked,” in light of Venmo transactions showing Gaetz had paid $900 to his accused sex-trafficker friend, Joel Greenberg, which Greenberg proceeded to send to three young women. On Tuesday, though, new reporting indicated that he has been upgraded to exceptionally, royally f--ked.
4/14/2021 Women detail drug use, sex and payments after late-night parties with Gaetz and others, by David Shortell and Paula Reid, CNN
The partygoers, at times dressed in formal wear from a political event they'd just left, mingled and shared drugs like cocaine and ecstasy. Some had sex.
Gaetz, the brash Republican, liked to discuss politics, said one of the women. He behaved like a "frat type of party boy," she said, sometimes taking pills she believed were recreational drugs.
4/14/2021 Gaetz Attended Champagne-Fueled Sex Parties With Other GOP Officials, Two Women Tell CNN, by Jamie Ross, Daily Beast
If a party host requires you to hand over your cellphone before entering in order to stop anyone from documenting what’s about to take place, it’s not usually a sign of an imminent wholesome evening. But, according to women who say they frequently partied with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) over the past two years, that was just part of the normal routine.
Two women have spoken out about their experiences of the parties, which they say were typically packed with Republican officials.
4/14/2021 Matt Gaetz’s Wingman Paid Dozens of Young Women—and a 17-Year-Old, by Jose Pagliery and Roger Sollenberger, The Daily Beast
Federal investigators seized Gaetz's phone in December 2020, and they took his ex-girlfriend's device shortly after, according to two people who heard the woman describe the episode. Timothy Jansen, a criminal defense lawyer representing the woman, said she is refusing to speak to journalists and declined to comment. Others were more opaque, such as 'Stuff' and 'Orher stuff' [sic]. According to three people with knowledge of the relationship, Gaetz was among the men who tapped Greenberg to access a large network of young women. Three payments in the reviewed documents — in amounts of $500, $500, and $250 — were designated for 'Ice cream.' Five other payments were for 'Salad,' one of which topped $1,000."
4/13/2021 New details shed light on Gaetz’s Bahamas trip, by Marc Caputo and Matt Dixon, Politico
Questions surrounding the ages of some of the women surfaced immediately upon their return — three of them looked so young when they returned on Beshears’ private plane that U.S. Customs briefly stopped and questioned him, according to sources familiar with the trip, including a woman on the flight.
In July 2020, as the full scope of his legal troubles were coming into view, Greenberg made a failed attempt to get politically connected friends to ask Gaetz to get President Donald Trump to pardon him, two of the friends told POLITICO. Greenberg was not invited to the Bahamas, the three sources said, because of a conflict with Pirozzolo’s girlfriend. Pirozzolo, who recently told patients that his office was closed “due to a family emergency,” could not be reached for comment, nor could his lawyer or girlfriend.
4/13/2021 Indicted Gaetz Associate Is Said to Be Cooperating With Justice Dept., by Michael S. Schmidt and Katie Benner, The New York Times
Speculation about Mr. Greenberg’s cooperation began mounting last week, after his lawyer and a federal prosecutor both said in court that he was likely to plead guilty in the coming weeks. “I’m sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today,” Fritz Scheller, Mr. Greenberg’s lawyer, told reporters afterward.
The United States attorney’s office for the Middle District of Florida is leading the investigation, which is examining not only whether Mr. Greenberg, Mr. Gaetz and others broke sex trafficking laws but also whether Mr. Gaetz paid for women over the age of 18 to travel with him to places like the Bahamas.
4/12/2021 ‘Felt like a setup’: WhatsApp chat shows Gaetz ally scrambling to contain fallout, by Marc Caputo, Josh Gerstein and Matt Dixon, Politico
The Florida county tax collector was five days away from a federal indictment for sex trafficking involving a 17-year-old — the same one Gaetz is now being investigated over — so Greenberg reached out to mutual friends on Aug. 14 last year and tried to enlist them in his defense, according to a WhatsApp chat shared with federal investigators and obtained by POLITICO. Greenberg went so far as to push Gaetz to use his influence with Trump for a pardon, according to two sources familiar with the discussions, including one who heard Greenberg say it repeatedly. Gaetz couldn’t be reached this weekend to discuss the WhatsApp messages that are the subject of this story.
4/12/2021 Exclusive: John Boehner believes Matt Gaetz should step down if indicted, by Jessica Koscielniak, USA TODAY
In an exclusive interview, Former Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner told USA TODAY's Susan Page that he believes embattled Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz should resign if indicted.
4/11/2021 ‘Like the Tiger King Got Elected Tax Collector’: Inside the Case That Ensnared Matt Gaetz, by Patricia Mazzei, Michael S. Schmidt and Katie Benner, The New York Times
Records and interviews detailed a litany of accusations: Mr. Greenberg strutted into work with a pistol on his hip in a state that does not allow guns to be openly carried. He spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to create no-show jobs for a relative and some of his groomsmen. He tried to talk his way out of a traffic ticket, asking a police officer for “professional courtesy.” He played police officer himself, putting a flashing light on his car to pull over a woman and accuse her of speeding. He published an anti-Muslim Facebook post. He solicited help to hack critics on the county commission. Stalking a rival candidate got him arrested. Federal agents looking into the matter found at least five fake IDs in his wallet and backpack, and kept digging. Their inquiry culminated in 33 federal charges against Mr. Greenberg, 36, including sex trafficking of a minor, bribery, fraud and stalking — and led to a mushrooming political scandal that burst into national news in recent days and ensnared Mr. Gaetz,
4/8/2021 Indicted Matt Gaetz Associate Is Expected to Plead Guilty, Lawyers Say, by Patricia Mazzei, Katie Benner and Michael S. Schmidt, The New York Times
Investigators have also been told of a conversation where Mr. Gaetz and a prominent Florida lobbyist discussed arranging a sham candidate in a State Senate race last year to siphon votes from an ally’s opponent, according to two people familiar with the investigation.
Mr. Gaetz’s legislative director in Washington, Devin Murphy, abruptly quit last week, three people familiar with the decision said on Thursday, becoming the second senior aide to resign since the Justice Department inquiry came to light.
4/8/2021 Key figure in Matt Gaetz probe likely cooperating with federal prosecutors, by Josh Gerstein, Politico
“I am sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today,” Joel Greenberg’s defense attorney said.
4/8/2021 Justice Dept. Inquiry Into Matt Gaetz Said to Be Focused on Cash Paid to Women, By Katie Benner and Michael S. Schmidt, The New York Times
Investigators believe Joel Greenberg, the former tax collector in Seminole County, Fla., who was indicted last year on a federal sex trafficking charge and other crimes, initially met the women through websites that connect people who go on dates in exchange for gifts, fine dining, travel and allowances, according to three people with knowledge of the encounters. Mr. Greenberg introduced the women to Mr. Gaetz, who also had sex with them, the people said.
Some of the men and women took ecstasy, an illegal mood-altering drug, before having sex, including Mr. Gaetz, two people familiar with the encounters said.
4/7/2021 Sean Hannity and his Fox News colleagues leave Matt Gaetz for dead, by Matt Gertz and Eric Hananoki, Media Matters
Perhaps the most notable absence from Gaetz’s defense is prime-time host Sean Hannity. Even as Gaetz responded to the allegations by spinning the sort of convoluted tale of deep state conspiracy and right-wing victimhood that seems tailor-made for Hannity’s program, the Fox star has seemingly left him for dead. Hannity campaigned with Gaetz in 2018, praising him as the Mickey Mantle of Congress
Gaetz is a Hannity fixture. Since August 2017, he made 127 appearances on the program, roughly 41% of the 310 interviews he gave the network overall (including a disastrous turn on Tucker Carlson Tonight to respond to the initial Times report), according to Media Matters’ database of weekday programming. Gaetz is the 11th most-frequent Hannity guest over that period, and ranks second to Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) among guests who have not served as paid Fox contributors.
Chickenshits of a Feather Flocking Together
4/6/2021 The congressman and his wingman, by Marc Caputo, Politico
Florida has never seen a tax collector like Joel Greenberg.
His Seminole County tax office was the only one in the state where employees were armed with pistols and body armor. He wore his own law enforcement badge and carried a sidearm at tax collector conferences. He let people pay property taxes with Bitcoin. He tweeted Islamophobic comments, installed a remote-controlled sprinkler system to spray petition gatherers he didn’t like and doled out fat contracts to his groomsmen shortly after winning the usually humdrum Orlando-area office with a campaign to stop “crony capitalism.”
Less than a week after his initial arrest and resignation, federal prosecutors allege, Greenberg kickstarted a new fraudulent scheme over Covid relief money. That charge was added to his third and (so far) final superseding indictment that was returned March 30. The indictment also alleged Greenberg had set up a company called Government Blockchain Systems LLC to use his elected office to “embezzle and divert over $400,000” in public money to personally benefit himself by using cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. Greenberg is accused of misusing tax money to buy Bitcoin mining machines and then selling them at a personal profit on Amazon.
“You couldn’t make this story up, it’s so crazy,” said David Bear, an attorney for a Greenberg political rival whom the now-former Seminole County tax collector is accused of falsely smearing as a pedophile two years ago.
“Ultimately, it’s about abuse of power and how the Republican Party lost its way with guys like this,” Bear said. “As one of the few remaining Never Trump Republicans, nothing could make me happier than seeing Matt Gaetz and his kind being taken down. They’re the embodiment of Trumpism.”
4/6/2021 Matt Gaetz, Loyal for Years to Trump, Is Said to Have Sought a Blanket Pardon, by Michael S. Schmidt, Maggie Haberman and Nicholas Fandos, The New York Times
Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, was one of President Donald J. Trump’s most vocal allies during his term, publicly pledging loyalty and even signing a letter nominating the president for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the final weeks of Mr. Trump’s term, Mr. Gaetz sought something in return. He privately asked the White House for blanket pre-emptive pardons for himself and unidentified congressional allies for any crimes they may have committed, according to two people told of the discussions.
4/2/2021 Matt Gaetz sex competition was so shocking it had a Harry Potter rule: report, by Bob Brigham, RawStory
"The sex competition even involved the 'Harry Potter' book series, the GOP source told Insider. Anyone who had sex with a certain conservative woman "won the whole game regardless of points," she said. That woman was known as the 'snitch,' a nod to the Harry Potter game of Quidditch. The GOP source said she 'heard specific references of Gaetz being involved and scoring points.' She declined to name the woman to protect her privacy," Business Insider explained.
The game was initially revealed by Chris Latvala, a Republican who served alongside Gaetz in the Florida legislature. Latvala revealed the game over a year ago after Gaetz complained about him meeting with the Rev. Al Sharpton.
4/2/2021 Feds' investigation of Matt Gaetz includes whether campaign funds were used to pay for travel and expenses, by Evan Perez, David Shortell, Paula Reid and Pamela Brown, CNN
The investigation of Gaetz began in the closing months of the Trump-era Justice Department under then-Attorney General William Barr and was initially part of a broader probe into trafficking allegations against another Florida politician, Joel Greenberg.
4/2/2021 The Matt Gaetz Investigation: What We Know, by Nicholas Fandos, The New York Times
Gaetz has claimed his family is being extorted. Not exactly.
The disclosure of a serious federal criminal investigation would typically prompt carefully vetted statements and studied silence in Washington. Mr. Gaetz has gone on a media tour instead, confirming the existence of the inquiry while shifting attention to another attention-grabbing claim: that his family is being targeted by two men trying to extort it for $25 million in exchange for making potential legal problems “go away.”
4/2/2021 Feds looking at alleged payments Rep. Matt Gaetz made to women and online solicitation: Sources, by Alexander Mallin, Mike Levine, John Santucci, Katherine Faulders and Will Steakin, ABC News
Sources said Gaetz was part of a group of young male lawmakers who created a "game" to score their female sexual conquests, which granted "points" for various targets such as interns, staffers or other female colleagues in the state House. One of the targets of the scoring system was a group the lawmakers had heard were "virgins," according to a source. The scoring system by male Florida lawmakers was previously reported by the Miami Herald.
One source said Gaetz was often spotted trying to pick up young women at 101 Restaurant, a once-popular watering hole in Tallahassee for some lawmakers and students from nearby Florida State University.
While on Capitol Hill as a member of Congress, Gaetz allegedly boasted of his sexual encounters with women, and would allegedly try to show colleagues photos and videos of naked women he said he slept with, according to sources familiar with Gaetz’s actions. One video in particular was of a naked woman with a hula hoop, according to a source who was shown the material -- an allegation first reported by CNN.
Prior to joining Congress, Gaetz was a member of the Florida House of Representatives when his father was also a member of the Florida Senate. Sources told ABC News the two were often referred to as "Daddy Gaetz and Baby Gaetz." Sources said some women referred to him as "Creepy Gaetz."
3/31/2021 Rep. Matt Gaetz under federal investigation, accused of having sex with a minor, Staff Video, USA Today
3/31/2021 The one *big* problem with Matt Gaetz's explanation, by Chris Cillizza, CNN
The Department of Justice declined to comment to CNN on Tuesday night. In a statement to CNN, the FBI in Jacksonville said, "The FBI declines to confirm nor deny the existence or status of an investigation. We refer you to the Department of Justice for further comment regarding this report."
Which, well, seems to matter. Because, if Gaetz's allegations are totally accurate, it would seem incumbent upon the DOJ and/or the FBI to say so. Allegations that a 38-year-old member of Congress had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and may have paid for her to travel with him are serious. The Justice Department is even investigating whether Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, according to The New York Times report. If they are entirely inaccurate -- and if the teenager is, as Gaetz claims, entirely fictional -- then the FBI and DOJ not saying so could, after a while, amount to character assassination.
And yet, neither the DOJ or FBI has said anything -- amid repeated requests from media organizations to do so. (Worth noting for people alleging that this is a political hit on Gaetz, a major ally of former President Donald Trump: The investigation began in the final months of the Trump presidency, while Bill Barr was still the Attorney General.)
3/31/2021 In investigation of Rep. Gaetz's alleged sexual relationship with minor, feds looking beyond Florida, sources say, by Mike Levine, Katherine Faulders, Alexander Mallin and John Santucci, ABC News
Within the last several weeks Gaetz started reaching out to prominent attorneys, according to one source. The source said that one of the attorneys Gaetz asked to represent him was Washington attorney Bill Burck, who represented Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus and Don McGahn during the Mueller probe. Burck turned down the case, according to a person familiar with the decision.
3/30/2021 Joel Greenberg's Third Superceding Indictment, United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division
3/30/2021 Matt Gaetz Is Said to Face Justice Dept. Inquiry Over Sex With an Underage Girl, by Michael S. Schmidt, Katie Benner and Nicholas Fandos, The New York Times
The investigation was opened in the final months of the Trump administration under Attorney General William P. Barr, the two people said. Given Mr. Gaetz’s national profile, senior Justice Department officials in Washington — including some appointed by Mr. Trump — were notified of the investigation, the people said.
12/11/2017 Women in politics fear #MeToo moment will backfire — and they’ll be the ones punished, by Mary Ellen Klas, Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Mayfield said she was outraged her freshman year as a House member when a group of freshmen male legislators lived together and ran their rented session home “like a frat house.”
They created a scoring system to rank female legislators and lobbyists, she said. One of them was asked what he wanted to do in Tallahassee and his answer was “to sleep with as many women as possible,” Mayfield recalled. “Who is investigating that?”
She said she believes Latvala’s accuser, but Mayfield also suggests that Tallahassee’s go-along, get-along culture may have allowed him to become “desensitized,” while those he may have shamed and offended did not feel free to complain.
‘I’ve walked around the building and you can look in women’s eyes and you just know they’re in pain. They’re terrified,’ said Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation.