Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, allegedly paid for two women in 2019 to travel to New York to have sex, a lawyer for the women says.
Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, allegedly paid for two women in 2019 to travel to New York to have sex, watch his appearance on Fox News, and attend the Broadway show “Pretty Woman”, an attorney for the women .
In an interview with ABC News’ Juju Chang, Florida attorney Joel Leppard revealed new details regarding his clients’ closed-door testimony before the private bipartisan committee — including that his clients told congressional investigators that Gaetz paid for them to travel across state lines to have sex on at least two occasions.
The attorney also said that the women provided the committee with text messages they allegedly exchanged with Gaetz about the acquisition of drugs and payments that the attorney said were, in part, for sex.
Gaetz, who President-elect Donald Trump selected last week to serve as his attorney general, has denied any wrongdoing. The Justice Department declined to charge Gaetz last year after a yearslong investigation into the allegations, and members of the House Ethics Committee are weighing releasing a report summarizing the findings of their own investigation into Gaetz, after he resigned from Congress following Trump’s announcement.
“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”, Trump transition spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer regarding all the allegations involving Gaetz.
“These are baseless allegations intended to derail the second Trump administration. The Biden Justice Department investigated Gaetz for years and cleared him of wrongdoing”, Pfeiffer said of the allegations and the DOJ’s decision not to bring charges, which the Justice Department began investigating during the first Trump administration.
Leppard described to ABC News the trip to New York that he says his clients testified Gaetz paid for in January 2019.
“They testified that they met up with Matt Gaetz in New York in January of 2019 for his appearance on Fox News . Mr. Gates paid them for the tickets to come to New York for the trip”, Leppard told Chang. “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.”
According to Leppard, his clients told the Ethics Committee that Gaetz paid for them to travel to New York in January 2019 for sex during a trip where the then-congressman appeared on the Fox News talk show “Outnumbered.”
Gaetz — who was already allegedly with another woman in New York — brought the women to visit Fox News studios, have dinner, and then to see the play “Pretty Woman”, a show about a wealthy businessman who falls in love with a prostitute, the attorney said.
ABC News independently confirmed that Gaetz appeared in studio on Fox News on Jan. 4, 2019, a day the attorney said his clients testified that they spent time with Gaetz, and that the show “Pretty Woman” was running on Broadway at the time.
