Matt Gaetz Paid Women to Have Sex and Watch ‘Pretty Woman’ on Broadway, Says Lawyer
As pressure mounts for the House Ethics Committee to release their report into allegations former Rep. Matt Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, new claims surfaced on Monday that Donald Trump’s Attorney General nominee paid two women in 2019 to travel to New York to have sex.
During an interview with ABC News‘ Juju Chang, attorney Joel Leppard said that his clients provided the committee with text messages they allegedly exchanged with Gaetz over the purchase of drugs and payments for sex. Leppard said that the women told investigators that in 2019, Gaetz paid for them to travel to New York for sex where the then-congressman appeared on the Fox News talk show Outnumbered.
According to the attorney, after inviting them to visit Fox News studios, Gaetz brought the women to dinner, and then to watch the Broadway show Pretty Woman, a love story based on the 1990 film about a Hollywood sex worker and wealthy businessman.
ABC News confirmed that Gaetz appeared at the Fox News studios on Jan. 4, 2019, and that Pretty Woman was on Broadway at the time. “Mr. Gates paid them for the tickets to come to New York for the trip,” Leppard told the outlet. “They were asked to go and have sex with Rep. Gaetz, and then they could go out and see a show that they wanted to see that night. So essentially, take care of things, and then later on, they could have their fun.”
Leppard said that his clients testified that Gaetz also paid for them to travel to the Bahamas where other men and young women were present, including the woman who has alleged she had a sexual relationship with Gaetz when she was a minor. The woman was over 18-years-old by the time of the Bahamas trip, ABC News noted.
Gaetz resigned from his congressional seat last week, immediately after President-elect Trump tapped the Florida congressman to serve as his attorney general. The ethics committee was scheduled to vote on the release of the investigative report into allegations that he had engaged in sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, and public corruption. His resignation effectively ended the investigation as he is no longer under Congress’ jurisdiction.
The records include witness statements about a 2017 party that featured drugs, a 17-year-old sex trafficking victim, and, allegedly, Gaetz himself. Last week, Leppard said that one of his clients told the House Ethics Committee that she witnessed former Gaetz having sex with a minor.
Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing. Trump transition spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer called the allegations “baseless” and an attempt “to derail the second Trump administration.”
“Matt Gaetz will be the next Attorney General. He’s the right man for the job and will end the weaponization of our justice system,” Pfeiffer told ABC News.
Although Democratic leaders have called for the report on Gaetz to be released, it is unclear if the committee will make the probe’s findings public.
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