The woman who was 17 at the time when she allegedly had sexual relations with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has been contacted by the House Ethics Committee, according to CNN citing a source.
The GOP-led committee, chaired by Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS), has been investigating Gaetz and recently began conducting interviews of "multiple new witnesses" suggesting it is ramping up its fact-finding efforts.
In recent days, the committee has not only fanned out to question witnesses as part of the Justice Department's sex trafficking crime investigation into the Florida congressman (where last year, no criminal charges were brought), but also to figure out if the Florida pol committed lobbying violations, reports ABC News.
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What's more, the committee has also contacted the DOJ for its evidence from the investigation into Gaetz, which also included allegations Gaetz had sex with a minor.
Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and said the claims that he had sex with a minor or even paid for sex are baseless.
“Those allegations were not true, have never been true, and the people who spread those lies have been exposed, indicted, and imprisoned,” Gaetz told CNN.
The one-time star witness for the prosecution, Joel Greenberg, was a former tax collector and one-time close pal of Gaetz. He pleaded guilty in 2021 to a stalking charge for falsely smearing a political rival as a pedophile, identity theft, and sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl — the same person that allegedly was victimized by Gaetz.
Gaetz, who saw to ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy out of the job and Washington, has reportedly accused McCarthy of causing the committee's heating up of the investigation.
Back in November, McCarthy claimed Gaetz was seeking reprisals for the investigation into his alleged sex trafficking.
“It’s driven by Gaetz, and it was all based upon an ethics complaint that happened in the last Congress," he said. "He would throw his country away to try to protect himself for what would come out as the truth.”
The woman at the time was reluctant to speak to federal investigators about her relationship with Gaetz dating back to 2017, when she was 17, a source close the case told NBC News.
