- Rep. Matt Gaetz attended parties at drugs where participants sometimes had sex, reports CNN.
- Money sometimes changed hands after the parties, the report said.
- Gaetz is said to have made payments between at least one woman who went to the parties between 2018 and 2019.
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Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida was a contestant at parties that regularly involved drug use and sex, after which money sometimes changed hands, CNN reported Wednesday.
Two women who attended several of the parties told the news office that they took place in Florida and often had men who were active in local Republican politics. The first thing some women were told to do was put away their phones because the men did not want the parties to be documented on social media or on photos.
Party members share drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine, and ‘some had sex’, the report reads, adding that some parties were sent money to some participants. CNN said it was looking at digital receipts showing that Gaetz and his associate Joel Greenberg used payment programs “to send hundreds of dollars to at least one woman who attended the parties.”
The payments were said to have been made between 2018 and 2019, and a label for at least one of them said it was for travel expenses.
This information is likely to be of great importance to federal investigators investigating whether the Florida congressman had a sexual relationship with a minor and the federal laws on sex trafficking. Greenberg, who is charged on 33 charges, appears to be close to a plea deal and has reportedly been working with prosecutors against Gaetz since last year.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Greenberg provided investigators with information on a “variety of topics,” including that he and Gaetz interacted with women who received cash and gifts in exchange for sex.
Politico reported that the employees also received a warrant and confiscated Gaetz’s iPhone in December. According to the report, Gaetz changed his phone number last year and that investigators also confiscated his ex-girlfriend’s phone in November.
The IDP legislature vehemently denied the allegations against him, claiming that the Justice Department’s investigation into him was part of a comprehensive and complex plan to blackmail his family for millions of dollars. A Gaetz spokesman did not directly respond to CNN’s request for comment, but questioned the use of anonymous sources.