The House Ethics Committee obtained records, including check and Venmo payment records, that appear to show that representative at the time. Matt Gaetz They paid more than $10,000 to two women who testified in sexual misconduct investigations by the House and Justice Department, according to documents obtained by ABC News.
Venmo records show that between July 2017 and late January 2019, Gaetz — who was first elected in 2016 — allegedly made Venmo payments totaling $10,224.02 to two witnesses, who were then 18 years old.
The payments, which sources said were shown during closed-door testimony, ranged from $100 to more than $700.
The documents show payment records obtained during the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz.
House Ethics Committee record obtained by ABC News
ABC News notify in advance Investigators at the home said they had subpoenaed Venmo for Gaetz’s records and had been showing them to witnesses, asking if they were for sex or drugs. Witnesses were shown Venmo records of more than $10,000 in payments, and they testified that some of the payments belonged to Gaetzen and were for sex, a source familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
Gaetz, who was chosen last Wednesday by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as attorney general in the incoming administration, He resigned from the Chamber It came immediately after Trump’s announcement, just days before the House Ethics Committee was set to consider releasing a report on its investigation into the Florida congressman, sources said.
The Justice Department spent years investigating sexual misconduct allegations against Gaetz, as well as obstruction of justice allegations, before notifying Gaetz last year. don’t press charges. Gaetz has long denied wrongdoing in connection with the allegations that have come under investigation by Congress and the Justice Department.
“The Department of Justice received access to every financial transaction that Matt Gaetz ever made and concluded that he did not commit a crime,” Trump’s transition spokesman Alex Pfeiffer said in response to the ABC News report. “These furors seek to undermine the people’s mandate to reform the Department of Justice.”
The documents show payment records obtained during the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz.
House Ethics Committee record obtained by ABC News
“These are baseless allegations that are meant to derail the second Trump administration,” Pfeiffer said this week of the allegations surrounding Gaetz, which the Justice Department began investigating during the first Trump administration.
According to Gaetz, the descriptions in the “Notes” section of some of the Venmo payments included tags such as “Gift,” “Car Deductible,” “Cartrages” and “Soft Drinks.” Other entries referred to “travel” and one listed payment for a flight and the phrase “4 u extra”.
The alleged flight payment appears to be consistent with a September 2018 trip to the Bahamas that ABC News previously reported was part of the Justice Department’s investigation into Gaetz.
Other payments use emojis like a wrapped gift or a hug emoji, records show.
Payment records also show that in early January 2019, the two witnesses received mirror payments labeled “for trips” around the time Gaetz allegedly arranged for the two women. fly to New York for sex and to lead her to an appearance on Fox News’ “Outnumbered,” ABC News previously reported.
The Ethics Committee also obtained a signed cashed check, dated October 2018, purported to be Gaetz’s for $750, with the note saying “tuition reimbursement.” A witness testified to the committee that Gaetz gave him the check, according to a source familiar with the matter. Gaetz’s name is printed on the top left of the check along with an address.
The documents show payment records obtained during the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz.
House Ethics Committee record obtained by ABC News
Gaetz dismissed allegations that he was paid for sex, saying “someone is trying to make my generosity to ex-girlfriends something worse.”
The House Ethics Committee will meet Wednesday to discuss whether to vote to release the report on Gaetz, even though its investigation ended when Gaetz resigned from the House, multiple sources told ABC News.
