Rep. Matt Gaetz to be investigated over alleged sexual relationship with minor

A close ally of former President Donald Trump,  Republican Matt Gaetz is under investigation by the Justice Department concerning an alleged sexual relationship with a minor as reported by three people familiar with the matter, according to US media reports. 

The Representative of Florida may have paid for the 17-year-old to travel with him about two years ago. It is unclear how the Republican met the girl, reported the New York Times. 

Attorney General William P. Barr opened the investigation in the final months of Trump in the Oval Office as President.   

As per the people briefed on the issue, investigations are underway to determine if Gaetz has violated any sex trafficking laws previously. There are a number of federal statutes in place in the US, according to which it is illegal to get someone under 18 to cross state borders in order to engage in sex while paying for it with money or something of value. The US Justice Department is known to regularly prosecute offenders with severe sentences.

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This investigation into Gaetz actions falls under a bigger investigation underway into Joel Greenberg. Greenberg is a local Florida official who was charged with multiple charges last summer. He was indicted for financially supporting people for sex, one of whom was a minor and sex trafficking a child. 

Gaetz and Greenberg are allies and had visited the White House together in 2019. Greenberg has since resigned from his position as the tax collector in Seminole County, North of Orlando. 

The extent of Gaetz crimes is unclear at this point and hence no charges have been pressed against him, yet. 

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In an interview, he said, “I only know that it has to do with women. I have a suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward.”

Further Gaetz also claims that the entire investigation is part of an elaborate scheme to extort $25 million from him and his family over “false sex allegations”.

He further said that he and his father have been cooperating with the FBI. 

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Central Florida.