DOJ Mapped Web Of Payments Gaetz Sent To Women Who Said They Were Paid For Sex: Report

Federal investigators found a trail of thousands of dollars in payments made by former Rep. Matt Gaetz to women who testified they were paid for sex, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The Justice Department spent three years investigating Gaetz. During the probe, the agency reportedly compiled a chart that showed thousands of dollars in Venmo payments sent between the then-lawmaker and his friends. Some of those payments were made to the women who testified to the department about him, according to the Times.

Gaetz and his associates allegedly held drug-fueled sex parties for years between 2017 and 2020. But the Florida Republican — who was recently selected by President-elect Donald Trump as his nominee for attorney general — has rejected claims of impropriety. Both he and his allies point to the fact that the Justice Department closed its investigation last year without filing any charges against him, reportedly due to problems with the credibility of two witnesses.

Senators on both sides of the aisle have signaled Gaetz will have a fierce confirmation battle should Trump stick by him as his choice.

Gaetz resigned his seat in the House last week.

“This purposeful leaking of classified investigative materials is the sort of politicized D.O.J. weaponization that Matt Gaetz will end,” Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, told the Times when asked about the payment chart. “The Justice Department investigated Gaetz for years, failed to find a crime and are now leaking material with false information to smear the next attorney general.”

The House Ethics Committee had been conducting its own investigation into Gaetz over allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use until Gaetz resigned from Congress, abruptly ending the probe.

A lawyer representing two women who testified before the committee claimed the women told lawmakers Gaetz paid them for sex using Venmo, and one testified she personally saw Gaetz having sex with an underage girl at a party in 2017.

Reporting from the Washington Post added to those claims on Wednesday: Investigators on the House Ethics Committee obtained records showing Gaetz had paid more than $10,000 to two women who testified before the committee, the newspaper found.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the Senate has called on the ethics panel to release its findings. But the committee — which is split equally with five Republican and five Democratic members — deadlocked along party lines in a vote Wednesday on whether to release their investigation.

The panel is expected meet again on Dec. 5 to reconsider the matter.

The Times notes the Justice Department typically keeps documents it gathers during investigations secret if no charges are brought and the probe is closed. The House Ethics Committee was able to obtain the DOJ’s chart of payments, but other information lawmakers requested was not turned over.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee recently asked the Justice Department to turn over documents related to its investigation into Gaetz.