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The woman who was at the center of a yearslong Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations surrounding Rep. Matt Gaetz testified to the House Ethics Committee that the now-former Florida congressman had sex with her when she was 17 years old, sources familiar with the investigation .
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Gaetz had been tapped to serve as attorney general, overseeing the very branch of government that previously conducted its own investigation of him, which ended last year without charges being brought.
Gaetz resigned from office following Trump’s announcement. This came as the House Ethics Committee was in the final stages of its investigation, said sources, who added that the committee was preparing to meet this week to deliberate over whether to release a final report on the matter.
Over the summer, the House Ethics Committee subpoenaed the woman at the center of the probe — who is now in her 20s — and she sat for multiple days of testimony where she testified to the committee that Gaetz had sex with her when she was a minor in high school, sources close to the investigation said.
The Justice Department had spent years probing the allegations, including allegations of obstruction of justice, before informing Gaetz last year that it would not bring charges.
Gaetz has long denied any wrongdoing related to the Justice Department probe. In September, he released a detailed response to questions sent to him by the House Ethics Committee, which has been investigating allegations of alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, reiterating his denial of the allegations.
«Your correspondence of September 4 asks whether I have engaged in sexual activity with any individual under 18. The answer to this question is unequivocally NO. You can apply this response to every version of this question, in every forum», Gaetz said in a statement posted to his social media account.
The woman’s allegation regarding Gaetz became part of the investigation following claims by former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, a former friend of Gaetz, who is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence after reaching a deal with investigators in May 2021 in which he pleaded guilty to multiple federal crimes, including sex trafficking of the woman when she was a minor and introducing her to other «adult men» who also had sex with her when she was underage.
