New affidavits provide insight into Matt Gaetz sex-trafficking case
Plus, the Georgia GOP continues to shake up election rules.
Court documents submitted to a Florida federal court last night provide new, damning details into the circumstances of Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) potential involvement in sex trafficking. Since the spring of 2021, Gaetz has been under investigation for allegedly paying a 17-year-old girl for sex, who was recruited by Joel Greenberg, a Seminole County tax collector and Gaetz’s associate.
In a letter to Republican operative Roger Stone, Greenberg — who was requesting a pardon from then-President Donald Trump — said that he witnessed Gaetz engage in sex acts with a minor whom he then compensated.
“On more than one occasion, this individual was involved in sexual activities with several of the other girls, the congressman from Florida’s 1st Congressional District and myself,” Greenberg wrote.
“From time to time, gas money or gifts, rent or partial tuition payments were made to several of these girls, including the individual who was not yet 18. I did see the acts occur firsthand and Venmo transactions, Cash App or other payments were made to these girls on behalf of the Congressman.”
Unlike Gaetz, who earlier this spring was subpoenaed by lawyers representing the then-17-year-old in question, Greenberg was formally charged and sentenced for violating federal sex trafficking laws. The former Florida government employee was found guilty of providing young women with hotel rooms, food and drugs in exchange for sex.
This led individuals to come forward and say that Gaetz often bragged about the women he interacted with through Greenberg. “Matt was never shy about talking about his relationship to Joel and the access to women that [Greenberg] provided him,” an anonymous source told The Washington Post.
The documents came from a separate case concerning Chris Dorworth, a lobbyist and friend of Gaetz, who filed a civil lawsuit claiming he was unjustly involved in the Greenberg-Gaetz investigation. Though he has since dropped the case, Dorworth’s attorneys were attempting to recoup expenses — and, thus, provided legal filings that mention Gaetz.
The documents quote sealed affidavits from multiple witnesses related to a party at Dorworth’s home in 2017. According to a witness interviewed under oath, the then-17-year-old was present with Gaetz at the party where “alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy … and marijuana” were readily available and there was an expectation that attendees would “engage in sexual activities.”
From the very beginning of the scandal, Gaetz — who has voted against multiple anti-human trafficking bills while in Congress — continues to deny any wrongdoing and has claimed the allegations are a means to extort money from him.
Today, the Georgia State Election Board announced that after a 3-2 vote, it would seek to force the use of hand counting to tally votes for the 2024 presidential election. The decision has been criticized by Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, its attorney general and a multitude of local election officials. Additionally, the Board is already facing a Democratic lawsuit concerning the “chaotic” changes being made to their Election Day process.
The chair of the State Election Board, John Fervier, urged his colleagues to vote against the measure, saying that they’d “be going against the advice of our legal counsel by voting in the affirmative.”
“This board is an administrative body, it’s not a legislative body,” Fervier continued. “If the legislature had wanted this, they would have put it in statute.”
The policy would require a total of three election officials to count all votes by hand, the total of which would then be contrasted to the amount provided by an electronic scanner. Throughout the process of designing changes to the vote-counting process, nonpartisan election officials have begged state Republicans to reconsider.