A woman interviewed by congressional investigators said that she received money from Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., in exchange for sex, sources familiar with the testimony told ABC News. Gaetz, an ally of former President Donald Trump, also allegedly paid others to attend parties where people engaged in sex and drugs, the outlet reported.
Witnesses who spoke with House Ethics Committee staff had previously spoken with federal investigators as part of the Department of Justice's own probe into Gaetz and his erstwhile friend, Joel Greenberg, who was convicted in 2022 of sex trafficking a minor.
According to the sources who spoke with ABC News, the witnesses were shown evidence of Venmo payments that they allegedly received from Gaetz and were asked whether those were for sex.
Investigators from the committee received the Venmo records after subpoenaing the company, the sources said. They also interviewed around a half-dozen women who claimed they were paid to attend those parties by Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector. In 2022, Greenberg pled guilty to underage sex trafficking, wire fraud, stalking, identity theft, producing a fake ID card, and conspiring to defraud the US government. A judge sentenced him to 11 years in federal prison.
As part of his plea deal, Greenberg provided information about Gaetz's involvement in the sex-trafficking scheme. Gaetz has denied ever paying for sex or having sex with a minor, and the previous DOJ investigation didn't result in any charges filed against him. Any payments to women he made, Gaetz has said, was "generosity towards ex-girlfriends" being portrayed as "something more untoward."
"They are doing this to avoid the obvious fact that every investigation into me ends the same way: my exoneration. This is Soviet. Kevin McCarthy showed them the man, and they are now trying to find the crime," Gaetz wrote on X, apparently blaming the former House speaker for seeking revenge over the Florida lawmaker's role in his fall from power. "I work for Northwest Floridians who won't be swayed by this nonsense and McCarthy and his goons know it."
Last April, The Atlantic published an article that features a former Gaetz staffer claiming he liked to show off his sexual conquests and brag about his use of erectile dysfunction pills to staffers and other members of Congress.
On Tuesday, the House Ethics Committee revealed that after the interviews and 25 subpoenas, the bipartisan panel will continue to review allegations that the Florida congressman "engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use" and "sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct."
