Two women interviewed by the House Ethics Committee about former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be attorney general, testified that Gaetz paid them directly and repeatedly in Venmo transactions “for sex,” and that those transactions were obtained by the committee, an attorney for the women told CBS News.
The attorney, Joel Leppard, also said the women testified that Gaetz inquired in text messages about “party favors” and “vitamins” at upcoming parties, which was understood to be code for drugs.
Leppard, who is based in Orlando, said his clients testified that they attended parties from 2017 to January 2019 where Gaetz was present and sex and drug use took place. In an interview Monday with CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett, Leppard said one of his clients testified before the House Ethics Committee that she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old girl against a game table at a July 2017 party.
Gaetz was sworn into Congress in January 2017, so all of the events the women allege took place while he was a member of the House.
Officials with the Trump transition team did not respond to requests for comment Monday. One source familiar with Gaetz’s legal position questioned the credibility of the women and argued their recollections would not have withstood cross examination in court, had it come to that.
Gaetz, who has denied all wrongdoing, including having sex with a minor, has blasted the committee’s investigation against him and on Thursday called the testimony about him a “false smear.”