Two ladies testified earlier than the Home Ethics Committee that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) paid them for intercourse, an lawyer revealed to ABC Information on Monday.
Florida lawyer Joel Leppard informed the community that his two purchasers have been “very clear” to the committee that Gaetz, now President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. lawyer normal, paid them for intercourse and shared proof of Venmo funds he made to them.
The remarks from Leppard come a couple of days after he informed media retailers that a kind of purchasers additionally testified that she witnessed Gaetz, now 42, having intercourse together with her 17-year-old good friend at a celebration seven years in the past.
“She testified [that] in July of 2017, at this house party, she was walking out to the pool area, and she looked to her right, and she saw Rep. Gaetz having sex with her friend, who was 17,” he reiterated to ABC Information on Monday.
Gaetz had been sworn in as a member of Congress earlier that yr.
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“Her understanding was that Matt Gaetz did not know that she was a minor and that when he learned that she was a minor, that he broke off things and did not continue a sexual relationship until she turned 18,” Leppard continued.
Leppard’s claims come because the committee weighs releasing its ethics report on Gaetz, whom the committee has been investigating over allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. When Gaetz resigned from the Home final week, saying he was doing so to permit his alternative to be picked in time for the subsequent Congress, the committee was compelled to stop its investigation two days earlier than a scheduled vote on releasing its report.
A consultant of Gaetz deferred remark to Trump transition crew spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer, who denied the lawyer’s accusations.
“These are baseless allegations intended to derail the second Trump administration,” the assertion learn partly.
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Leppard joined a number of prime lawmakers in calling for the Home Ethics Committee to launch its report on Gaetz, though he’s now not in workplace. Regardless of protestations from Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), there may be precedent for releasing ethics reviews in such circumstances.
“As the Senate considers former Rep. Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general, several questions demand answers,” Leppard stated. “What if multiple credible witnesses provided evidence of behavior that would constitute serious criminal violations?”
The ethics committee plans to satisfy Wednesday to debate its Gaetz report, a number of information retailers reported.
