A girl who attended a 2017 occasion with former Rep. Matt Gaetz advised the Home Ethics Committee she witnessed the then-recently elected congressman having intercourse with a minor, in keeping with her lawyer.
The lady’s lawyer, Joel Leppard, launched a press release on Friday, calling on the committee to launch the findings of its yearslong evaluate of Gaetz. The committee deliberate to vote Friday on whether or not to launch their report, however the assembly was canceled after President-elect Donald Trump introduced he supposed to nominate Gaetz as lawyer common and the Florida Republican resigned from Congress.
“Because the Senate considers former Rep. Gaetz’s nomination for Legal professional Normal, a number of questions demand solutions,” Leppard stated in a press release. “What if sworn testimony detailed conduct that might disqualify anybody from serving as our nation’s chief legislation enforcement officer?”
Leppard’s consumer is considered one of at the very least 4 girls who’ve advised the committee they have been paid to attend events with medicine and intercourse the place Gaetz was current, in keeping with a number of sources conversant in the matter. Her account corroborates the testimony of the then-minor, who advised the committee that she had intercourse with Gaetz when she was 17 years outdated.
“She was a highschool scholar, and there have been witnesses,” her lawyer, John Clune, stated in a press release on Thursday. He additionally urged the committee to launch its report on Gaetz.
CBS Information has discovered the committee additionally has Gaetz’s Venmo transactions that allegedly present funds for the ladies.
Gaetz, who has denied all wrongdoing, together with having intercourse with a minor, has known as the committee’s investigation a “smear marketing campaign.”
The Division of Justice beforehand investigated Gaetz’s involvement with the minor as a part of a intercourse trafficking probe, however no fees have been introduced towards him.
Home Speaker Mike Johnson stated Friday that he would “strongly request” that the Home Ethics Committee withhold the report on its investigation into Gaetz.
Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated he desires to see the report. GOP Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota is not on the Judiciary Committee however stated in an interview on CNN, “We should always be capable to come up with [the report], and we should always have entry to it a method or one other, based mostly on the best way we do all of those nominations.”
