Reactions mounted Thursday after a woman sharing her story for the first time said that then-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) sexually abused her when she was just 17, while she was living in a homeless shelter and trying to save money to buy braces to fix her teeth.
Laura B. Wolf, an attorney for the then-teenager and now-woman, spoke to The New York Times about the ordeal. Times journalists reached out to Wolf after a federal judge in Florida unsealed court documents that described the victim as "a then-homeless 17-year-old high schooler."
Wolf said her client was living with a parent in a homeless shelter and needed money when she falsely advertised herself as an 18-year-old on a "sugar daddy" dating website in 2017.
Responses on social media grew in the wake of the new information:
"Beyond horrific details coming out about Matt Gaetz. Details that @SpeakerJohnson fought to cover up. The GOP has a MASSIVE pedophilia problem. It's sick," communications director for Leaders We Deserve Matilda Bress wrote on X.
"Matt Gaetz, who is now accused of paying a homeless minor for sex, was Donald Trump's top pick for Attorney General. There are no coincidences," The Lincoln Project wrote on X.
"Matt Gaetz was almost attorney general. Given how Pam Bondi has run cover for pedophiles, not a surprise why Trump wanted Gaetz in there!" Harvard Law instructor Alejandra Caraballo wrote on Bluesky, adding, "The fundamental problem in society we keep dealing with is that powerful men never actually face accountability. This poor girl was homeless and in deep poverty while Gaetz is running around in the top circles of Washington."
"Remember: Trump tried to make this guy Attorney General," Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) wrote on Bluesky.
"These are just disgusting people. Big kudos to this girl (now woman) allegedly trafficked to Matt Gaetz, by a friend of his who sometimes paid for sex on his government credit card. Her story is horrific and she sounds brave and tough as nails to be sharing it," writer and editor Amanda Katz wrote on Bluesky.
"In Matt Gaetz Scandal, Circumstances Left Teen Vulnerable to Exploitation. This is the most anodyne headline for a truly horrific set of facts," Lincoln Project and Resolute Square founder Rick Wilson wrote on Bluesky.
"Why did this take so long to come out? Michael Schmidt: For the first time, the story of the 17 year old girl who testified that she had sex with Matt Gaetz for money. She was living in and out of a homeless shelter," contributing editor at Harper's Magazine Scott Horton wrote on Bluesky.
"That's why Matt Gaetz is out of office. And that's why Trump should be on his way out of office," high school chemistry teacher Anup Sinha wrote on Bluesky.