Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend played a small role in the unfolding public drama – she is the woman who sends a nude video of the lawmaker performing a hula hoop dance he shows to other members of Congress.
But two of her friends, who did not want to be identified in public due to the sensational nature of the case, say she suspects she has now been brought up when the alleged victim and another woman involved in the case, called her to discuss the legislature. fears may have been a recorded conference call. The call came after Greenberg was charged with sex crimes in August.
The friends did not provide details on exactly what was discussed, but one said that Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend said she was opposed to talking to authorities and that they were now worried that prosecutors could charge her with obstruction of justice. to get to Gaetz.
Tim Jansen, a lawyer for Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend, declined to comment on his client. Greenberg’s lawyer, Fritz Scheller, also did not want to speak. Gaetz vehemently denies allegations that he committed sexual crimes.
The three women on the call were all present on a September 2018 trip to the Bahamas, which authorities say could shed light on the allegations against Gaetz. Also present on the trip: Gaetz and two other political Republican players in Florida, former member of the Orlando Air Force and government fundraiser, Ron DeSantis, Jason Pirozzolo and former State Representative Halsey Beshears.
POLITICO withheld the names of the women who went to the Bahamas, including his ex-girlfriend, because of the sensitive nature of the case and the allegations that some women were in prostitution there.
As the investigation intensified this winter, Beshears abruptly resigned in January as secretary of Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation – a position that made him the state’s leading regulator – noting that he had contracted Covid-19 has. Around that time, federal authorities seized the iPhones of Gaetz and his ex-girlfriend.
Federal authorities are investigating the Bahamas trip to see if it violates the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of people across state borders to engage in prostitution. One woman on the trip told POLITICO that no one is engaged in prostitution.
The alleged victim in the sex trade turned 18 years old almost nine months before the Bahamas trip. But Gaetz admitted he was the subject of a federal investigation into whether he had improper involvement with her as a 17-year-old.
A source familiar with the investigation will not say whether the alleged victim is cooperating with authorities. But when asked if she has been talking to the federal government for months, the source says ‘100 percent’.
While the alleged victim of sexual trafficking is key to the case against Greenberg and the allegations against Gaetz, the former girlfriend of the lawmaker could play a key role in the investigation into the trip, as well as other related controversies.
Gaetz is criticized for allegedly showing the hula hoop video to congressional colleagues, and he is also accused of having revenge porn against his ex-girlfriend. But two of her friends say the woman, in her early twenties, did not object to him showing it to friends – provided he did not send it to others or post it on social media – because she was proud of her. appearance and performance.
“It’s the best I’ll ever see in my life,” a friend who saw the video recalled saying. “That’s how she is. This is not revenge porn. ”
The former girlfriend met Gaetz for the first time while studying in the Orlando area in 2017. Greenberg, who contacted her on the SeekingArrangement website – a dating site that connects women with so-called sugar daddies – made the connection. Shortly afterwards, she dated Gaetz, though the relationship was not exclusive, friends said.
Later, Gaetz got her a job in the office of another Republican member of Congress., but the member let her go when it was discovered she was a Democrat, according to Democratic Representative Darren Soto of Orlando, who immediately hired her when Gaetz told him about the case.
Soto, who is not involved in the investigation, does not want to name the Republican lawmaker or comment on the matter. But he said the woman was a hard worker in his office and that he had no complaints about her except a few inquiries about whether Gaetz’s relationship with the intern was inappropriate.
“We wanted to protect her privacy from the media. She was just an intern, ‘Soto said. ‘I would also say that she was fired by a Republican because she was a Democrat. I found it offensive that she was fired because of her political beliefs. ”
Gaetz and the ex-girlfriend continued well into the Bahamas trip in 2018. Friends said the two remain on good footing, even though she was a source of friction between the legislature and Beshears. Beshears apparently took her on an appointment in Tallahassee, including a trip to the Florida State University Skybox at Doak Campbell Stadium, mutual friends said.
At the time, Beshears was recently left behind by another friend after learning of the Bahamas trip. Beshears, then a state legislator, flew several of the women with his private jet, which was briefly detained by U.S. customs on his return to Florida for questioning about the ages of several young women on the trip.
“Here was Halsey with three young women who could possibly be his daughters, and a customs agent was like, ‘Whoa, what’s going on here? ‘,’ Says a source familiar with the incident.
Another mutual friend said to the party group and the drama surrounding them: ‘Tallahassee is like high school. But no one ever studies. ”