5 hours Ago By ABCNews
The woman who was at the center of a yearslong Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations surrounding Rep. Matt Gaetz testified to the House Ethics Committee that the now-former Florida congressman had sex with her when she was 17 years old, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News. President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Gaetz had been tapped to serve as attorney general, overseeing the very branch of government that previously conducted its own investigation of him, which ended last year without charges being brought.
MORE : 'Audible gasp': Justice Dept. officials, Republicans react to Trump picking Matt Gaetz for AG Gaetz resigned from office following Trump's announcement. This came as the House Ethics Committee was in the final stages of its investigation, said sources, who added that the committee was preparing to meet this week to deliberate over whether to release a final report on the matter.
Over the summer, the House Ethics Committee subpoenaed the woman at the center of the probe -- who is now in her 20s -- and she sat for multiple days of testimony where she testified to the committee that Gaetz had sex with her when she was a minor in high school, sources close to the investigation said. The Justice Department had spent years probing the allegations, including allegations of obstruction of justice, before informing Gaetz last year that it would not bring charges. Gaetz has long denied any wrongdoing related to the Justice Department probe.
In September, he released a detailed response to questions sent to him by the House Ethics Committee, which has been investigating allegations of alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, reiterating his denial of the allegations. "Your correspondence of September 4 asks whether I have engaged in sexual activity with any individual under 18. The answer to this question is unequivocally NO.
You can apply this response to every version of this question, in every forum," Gaetz said in a statement posted to his social media account. MORE : Matt Gaetz, under House ethics investigation, is Trump's pick for attorney general The woman's allegation regarding Gaetz became part of the investigation following claims by former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, a former friend of Gaetz, who is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence after reaching a deal with investigators in May 2021 in which he pleaded guilty to multiple federal crimes, including sex trafficking of the woman when she was a minor and introducing her to other "adult men" who also had sex with her when she was underage. According to Greenberg's plea deal, the woman, who ABC News is not identifying, met Greenberg online in 2017 and began meeting him in hotels and houses in the Middle District of Florida, where he "introduced the Minor to other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts with the Minor in the Middle District of Florida," court documents said.
At the time, the minor "represented that she was an adult" on the website where she met Greenberg -- and according to his plea agreement, he acknowledges that he "acted in reckless disregard of the fact that the Minor was less than 18 years old when he engaged in commercial sex acts" and had a "reasonable opportunity to observe" that she was underage. Over the course of its investigation, the House Ethics Committee conducted interviews with at least half a dozen women who allegedly attended parties where the Florida congressman was also present, and who were paid by Greenberg, Gaetz's one-time close friend, sources told ABC News. Some of the witnesses had been subpoenaed by the committee, while others agreed to cooperate, according to the sources.
The House Ethics Committee also subpoenaed Gaetz's former girlfriend for testimony, and said she sat for an interview earlier in the year, sources said. The former girlfriend previously testified to a grand jury in the sex trafficking probe, as ABC News previously reported. The committee has also obtained a sworn written statement by Gaetz's ex-girlfriend where she lists the Florida congressman as one of the attendees at a party in July 2017 where drugs were present and which was attended by the woman who Gaetz allegedly had sex with when she was a minor, sources said.
ABC News previously reported that the committee obtained written testimony from a separate woman who said that in July 2017, when she was 20 years old, she attended a party in Florida that Gaetz also attended, and which was attended by the woman who was a minor at the time and where drugs including cocaine were present. Greenberg, a key witness in the Justice Department probe, has been cooperating with the House Ethics investigation, according to sources. Earlier this year, while serving time in a Florida federal prison, he provided written testimony to the committee, the sources said.
FULL LIST : Trump's cabinet, administration picks include close allies from his campaign Some witnesses were shown Venmo payments they allegedly received from Gaetz, sources said. As ABC News previously reported, one woman who said she attended a party with the Gaetz in 2017, who ABC News is not identifying, told the committee that a payment from Gaetz was for sex, multiple sources told ABC News. Others have said they were paid to attend parties they said Gaetz also attended, and that those parties included drugs and sex, the sources said.
Gaetz has long denied all of the allegations, including paying for sex, and previously dismissed them by claiming "someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward." Earlier in the year the committee subpoenaed the Justice Department for records related to its probe into the Florida congressman, sources said. It is unclear if those records were turned over.
However, the committee had obtained some Venmo records from Gaetz after issuing the company a subpoena, sources told ABC News. During the Justice Department's investigation into Gaetz, public reporting, including by The Daily Beast, largely focused on Venmo records from Greenberg, who, according to his plea agreement, used his account to "pay for commercial sex acts" with women he also introduced to others. Rep.
Matt Gaetz said the following comment in response to ABC News' reporting: "These allegations are invented and would constitute false testimony to Congress. This false smear following a three year criminal investigation should be viewed with great skepticism.".
