As the House Ethics Committee faces mounting pressure to release its report on Matt Gaetz, an attorney for two women who testified before the panel this week provided new details about their allegations against the former congressman.
Gaetz, who has been picked by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Justice Department in his new administration, paid one of the women for sex at an invitation-only house party in Orlando, Florida., in 2017, her attorney, Joel Leppard, told NBC News. The woman also said she saw Gaetz having sex with her 17-year-old girlfriend at that party, Leppard said. Gaetz was a member of the House of Representatives at the time, representing Florida, where prostitution is illegal.
According to Leppard, the woman, who was 19 at the time, was introduced to Gaetz almost immediately after arriving at the party and then taken upstairs to have sex with him. Later that evening, she saw Gaetz and her underage girlfriend having sex against a gaming table, Leppard said.
The woman told the commission she believed Gaetz did not know her friend was underage, Leppard said, adding that Gaetz “stopped their sexual relationship” when he found out and “did not resume it until she turned 18” in late 2017.
The woman told the commission earlier this year about the alleged encounter Gaetz had with her friend at the party, Leppard said. “This is a very vivid memory that she has,” he added.
Gaetz, 42, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The Justice Department separately investigated the sex trafficking allegations against him and concluded the investigation last year without filing any charges. The House Ethics Committee was reportedly set to vote last week on whether to release its report on its own investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use. But the panel’s jurisdiction over the case ended last week with Gaetz’s abrupt resignation from Congress after Trump said he would nominate him as attorney general.
The two women were subpoenaed to testify before the House Ethics Committee and provided documentation to the panel, including text messages between them and Gaetz, Leppard told NBC News. The women also told the commission that Gaetz paid them for sex several times, Leppard said.
Gaetz’s representatives pointed NBC News to the Trump transition team’s statement, which called the allegations “baseless” and said they were intended to “derail the second Trump administration.”
The details of the women’s alleged interactions with Gaetz come as the former congressman faces a difficult path to Senate confirmation. The House Ethics Committee is under increasing pressure — including from within — to release its report on Gaetz, and some Senate Republicans have indicated they disagree with his nomination.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
