Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., accused an unnamed former Justice Department official of a multimillion-dollar extortion plot on Tuesday, hours after a news report said the lawmaker was being investigated by the Justice Department over whether he had a sexual relationship with a minor and paid for her to travel with him.
Gaetz, in a tweeted statement, vehemently denied the allegations reported by The New York Times, which cited three people briefed on the matter. He claimed he and his family were the victims of a $25 million extortion plot and that he was cooperating with federal authorities in the matter.
He added that his father, a former Florida political figure and a longtime power broker in the state, had worked with the FBI to wear a wire.
Gaetz, 38, called a report in The Times detailing the probe a “planted leak.”
“Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name,” Gaetz said.
“We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter and my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI’s direction to catch these criminals,” he said. “The planted leak to the FBI tonight was intended to thwart that investigation.”
“No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets of the ongoing extortion investigation,” he added. “I demand the DOJ immediately release the tapes, made at their direction, which implicate their former colleague in crimes against me based on false allegations.”
The Justice Department declined to comment.
According to The Times, it was unclear how Gaetz and the unnamed girl met. The Times reported that the encounter took place two years ago when the girl was 17, and that investigators are examining if Gaetz broke federal sex trafficking laws. Such laws make it a crime to induce someone under the age of 18 to travel for sex in exchange for something of value.
The inquiry into Gaetz, a rising star in the GOP and a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, was opened in the final months of the Trump administration under then-Attorney General Bill Barr, according to The Times.
Gaetz told The Times in an interview that he was told he is the subject, not the target, of the investigation. “I have a suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward,” he told the paper.
The Times, citing the three sources, reported that the probe of Gaetz is tied to a investigation of Joel Greenberg, a Gaetz political ally who was indicted last year on federal stalking charges, including aggravated identity theft and sex trafficking of a child, among other charges. Gaetz was seen in a photo with Greenberg posted on Twitter in 2019 during a visit to the White House.
A lawyer for Greenberg did not respond to a request for comment.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
