Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., on Tuesday denied that he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl amid new reports that the Justice Department was investigating the alleged relationship — claiming the probe was part of an elaborate extortion scheme.
The investigation, began last summer and focuses on whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with an underage girl and paid for her to travel with him, and whether he violated federal sex trafficking laws, a source aware of the investigation confirmed to ABC News.
The sources said the Gaetz inquiry is a sideline to an investigation into one of Gaetz’s political allies, Joel Greenberg, who resigned as Seminole County tax collector following his indictment last summer on charges including sex trafficking.
Gaetz told the Times that his lawyers were informed that he was the subject, not the target, of an investigation.
“I have not had a relationship with a 17-year-old. That is totally false,” Gaetz told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson in an interview Tuesday night. “That is false and records will bear that out to be false.”
On Fox News, Gaetz — who, according to an Axios report earlier on Tuesday, had been telling confidants he was considering retiring from Congress and possibly joining the right-wing media outlet Newsmax — appeared to confirm the investigation when he said he was approached by someone who claimed he could “make this investigation go away.”
Gaetz told The Times that the Justice Department has told his lawyers that he is “the subject, not the target,” of the investigation.
“I only know that it has to do with women,” Gaetz told the newspaper. “I have a suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward.”
“There was a demand for money in exchange for a commitment that he could make this investigation go away along with his co-conspirators,” Gaetz said, identifying the alleged extortionist as former DOJ official David McGee.
Gaetz, a Republican whose district includes the far western Panhandle, is closely aligned both with Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis. He is best known for his appearances on Fox News and political stunts including wearing a gas mask in the U.S. Capitol during the early days of the COVID pandemic.
The news follows reports, including this one by Axios, that Gaetz was considering leaving Congress to take a broadcasting job with Newsmax, the conservative outlet.
Also rumored is that Gaetz might contemplate a run for the statewide Florida Agriculture Commissioner, according to various news outlets. Current Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried is a Democrat.
Gaetz published a denial of wrongdoing on his Twitter feed.
“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. We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter,” he wrote.
“And my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI’s direction to catch these criminals. 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.
“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.”
