Newly reported text messages show Matt Gaetz soliciting a young woman who had been paid for sex by his now-imprisoned friend Joel Greenberg to accompany him on a three-day excursion to the Florida Keys.
The messages, reported by ABC Newsit allegedly occurred in May 2017, months after the Florida Republican took office.
The messages, described in detail to the outlet, allegedly show Gaetz asking the woman to fly on a private plane and join him, another woman and three other men in the Keys.
‘Hey, any interest in flying on a private plane to the Keys May 19-21?’ the congressman supposedly wrote.
Recently reported text messages show Matt Gaetz soliciting a young woman who had been paid for sex by his now-imprisoned friend Joel Greenberg to accompany him on a three-day excursion to the Florida Keys.
Gaetz informed the woman, whom ABC News describes as “over the age of 21,” that the trip would feature “2 guys and 4 girls.” A very high quality adventuring group.’
“Yes, I’m in,” the woman responded.
Gaetz then allegedly responded: ‘Fantastic. As with all the time you spend with me, it will be fun and calm (…) Do you have a passport?
ABC reports that the woman never ended up making the trip.
Greenberg reportedly told investigators that he paid the woman to have sex with other men on his behalf. Gaetz’s office denied that the congressman knew that Greenberg had been paying the woman for sex.
Bank and Venmo records show payments from Greenberg to the woman that sources say were for her to have sex at parties with Greenberg’s friends.
The committee reportedly possesses a photograph of Gaetz and the woman.
‘Rep. Gaetz is not aware of these activities of Mr. Greenberg and did not participate in them. Rep. Gaetz has never paid for sex. Rep. Gaetz knows nothing about the woman you’re referring to, even though she takes thousands of selfies every year.
Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for sex trafficking of a minor and stalking a political opponent in a plea deal with prosecutors in May 2021.
He was a key witness in the Justice Department’s investigation into allegations that Gaetz had also sexually trafficked the same minor, although the Justice Department decided not to press charges against Gaetz.
The House Ethics Committee first opened an investigation into Gaetz in April 2021, but paused it during the Justice Department investigation and has since reopened it.
House investigators are looking into whether Gaetz paid for sex and allegations of drug use and lobbying violations.
According to a 2021 New York Times report, investigators believed Gaetz and disgraced Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg instructed women they met online “to meet at certain times and places, often in hotels in Florida, and they would tell them the amount of money. They were willing to pay.’
Gaetz, who has been married to Ginger Luckey since 2021, says the allegations are a gross mischaracterization of his single days. And the investigation ended without charges against him.
“I’ve definitely provided for the women I’ve dated in my single days,” Gaetz told Axios. You know, I’ve paid for flights and hotel rooms. I’ve been, you know, generous as a partner.
Greenberg reportedly told investigators that he paid the woman to have sex with other men on his behalf. Gaetz’s office denied that the congressman knew that Greenberg had been paying the woman for sex.
He later told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson, “The New York Times is publishing a story that I have traveled with a 17-year-old woman and that is verifiably false.” People can look at my travel logs and see that’s not the case.’
In September 2018, three separate private flights took off from Orlando, Florida, for a weekend getaway to the Bahamas with passengers, including five young women.
Gaetz flew to the same destination, but commercially.
Sources told Politico in a 2021 report that in the Bahamas, Gaetz was joined by Republican allies Halsey Beshears, then a state lawmaker, and Jason Pirozzolo, a hand surgeon and Republican fundraiser for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.