Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida’s days in Congress appear to be very, very, very numbered. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if he resigns sometime in the next 24-48 hours after a bombshell report that was just published by The Daily Beast.
According to the report, alleged pimp/child trafficker Joel Greenberg, a central figure in the DOJ’s investigation into Gaetz’s teen sex/prostitution scandal, confessed in a letter that both he and the antigay lawmaker paid multiple women for sex, including a 17-year-old girl.
The letter was allegedly written by Greenberg to Roger Stone, begging for help obtaining a pardon from Donald Trump during the final months of his failed one-term presidency.
“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,” the letter states.
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Related: Another very creepy tweet from Matt Gaetz has everyone hiding their daughters
“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.”
The letter goes on to claim that Greenberg “called the congressman and warned him to stay clear of this person and informed him she was underage” and that Gaetz was “equally shocked and disturbed” when he learned she was still a minor.
It then asked if “$250k in Bitcoin would help” secure a pardon, to which Stone allegedly replied: “I understand all of this and have taken it into consideration. I will know more in the next 24 hours I cannot push too hard because of the nonsense surrounding pardons.”
In a followup note, Stone allegedly wrote, “I hope you are prepared to wire me $250,000 because I am feeling confident.”
Related: Matt Gaetz tweeted something super creepy about schoolchildren and everyone is like “Um, WTF?”
Shortly after the story broke, a spokesperson for Gaetz issued yet another statement claiming that the congressman has “never paid for sex, nor has he had sex with a 17 year old as an adult.”
The statement added: “Politico has reported Mr. Greenberg’s threats to make false accusations against others, and while The Daily Beast’s story contains a lot of confessions from Mr. Greenberg, it does not add anything of substance, and certainly no evidence for the wild and false claims about Rep. Gaetz.”
Meanwhile, Stone told The Daily Beast that Greenberg did try to use him to assist with a pardon, but he denied asking for or receiving any payment.
Sooooo Greenberg says it happened, Stone says he received the letter saying it happened, and Gaetz says none of it happened. Who do you believe?
Here’s what Twitter has to say about the whole thing…
Just so we're clear, Joel Greenberg confessed that he and Matt Gaetz raped a minor, and the Republican Party is still supporting Gaetz.
— Hamish Mitchell (@H_MitchellPhoto) April 30, 2021
Matt Gaetz paid to rape an underaged girl. He needs to be expelled from Congress and thrown in prison.
— Angela Belcamino (@AngelaBelcamino) April 30, 2021
Matt Gaetz is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fucked.
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) April 30, 2021
You think Matt Gaetz will pay for flowers to send to his fiancé with the same Venmo account?
— Jesus Fucking Christ ? (@SHEsus__Christ) April 30, 2021
Don't worry folks, Matt Gaetz will be fine. He's used to going to jail. pic.twitter.com/6Rnlo4PTXg
— ????? Anis Jerbi ????? (@ArtistAJ17) April 30, 2021
Why is Matt Gaetz still on any Congressional committee? @GOPLeader, do you condone his behavior?
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) April 30, 2021
Matt Gaetz belongs to the party that wouldn't let a 17 year old girl get an abortion if Matt Gaetz got her pregnant.
— I Smoked Giuliani's Four Seasons Total Prison Cell (@BlackKnight10k) April 30, 2021
Mike Pence's traditional values are Jerry Falwell Jr watching his wife get plowed by a pool boy, helping Matt Gaetz buy a Bahamas F buddy, letting Trump get spanked by porn stars while his wife gives birth, and covering for guys with more wives than church visits. He can STFU.
— Mr. Newberger (@jeremynewberger) April 30, 2021
Retweet if your day is going better than Matt Gaetz's.
— Devin Duke (@sirDukeDevin) April 30, 2021
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
ptn2719
I dunno, at this point I feel like even if he was arrested, tried, convicted, even then he wouldn’t resign. He might have to be expelled from the House if (and still at this point a big IF) he is ever actually charged with anything (which still hasn’t happened). Like Donald Trump, Matt Gaetz isn’t just going to go quietly.
Fahd
Gaetz is going to continue to follow Roy Cohn’s adage (handed down through Trump and Roger Stone) and “deny, deny, deny”. How does it benefit Gaetz to resign at this point?
Republican leadership has no shame, and this story is further proof of that.
Thank you for not letting the story fade away.
butchqueen
His money and power must be why women sleep with him. He’s fugly as hell.
SteveM
Gaetz isn’t at all ugly. In jail, he’d have no problem attracting some guys named Bubba and Butch to have some fun with him.
Bob
Those guys only care how your ass looks.
bowlingbutch
A Republican became President after paying a porn star for sex, talked about grabbing women by their p&&&y and the Republicans still supported him. They have no morals if it affects one of their own. Curious how Republican members of Congress explain to their wives, daughters, mothers and sisters their support of people who treat women horribly.
RichardPeters
Love me some Matty. Great dude who is a piece of ass as well.
SteveM
Actually, Gaetz isn’t at all bad looking. If he gets thrown into jail, some balded-headed dudes named Bubba and Butch would likely want to have some fun with him. I couldn’t blame them.
fur_hunter
Karma can be such a BITCH!!!…………AHAHHAHAH HEHEHEHEHHEAHAHAHHAHAAHAH
Mack
While Gaetz ass is fried, Stone was peddling pardons for money. I know that Trump pardoned him, but I don’t think it included future charges. So with that letter we get a “twofer”. I want to see both of them in jail for a long, long, long time.
Heywood Jablowme
“but I don’t think it included future charges.”
Right – it doesn’t.
bumblebum
Why speculate, we don’t have a way to hold him accountable… unless citizens arrest. Just another example of right rightness being wrong. Make sure your life is right.
cuteguy
This is the (fugly) face of the GQP. Is it no wonder Moscow Mitch is silent on this matter. What a joke. Lady G was right back in 2015 when she said Trump would destroy that party and they would deserve it if Trump received the GQP nomination
Bob
Too bad Moscow Mitchs dick is shriveled and dead by now.. It’d be fun to see him as part of these charges.
avesraggiana
He’s not resigning, EVER. He’s a Republican.
jniceny
It seems like CNN, MSNBC, Buzzfead, the Daily Beast, and most of you have all ready decided he is guilty. If the FBI had enough evidence to charge him and thought they could get a conviction, they would have charged him. Has any media outlet seen or published the letter, or are they just taking Stone’s word for it. Gaetz may very well be guilty, but I have yet to see any evidence of guilt. Also, one of the allegation made by the media is that he had sex with a 17 year old. If he did that in Florida where the age of consent is 18, then he broke the law. But in the majority of states in the United States, the age of consent is 17 years of age (including some states whose age of consent is 16 years). The other thing troubles me about the reporting of this, is the casual use of the term “trafficking”. We do a disservice to trafficking victims, persons who are co-erced, kidnapped, and/or forced to do manual labor, domestic work, and prostitution when we equate that with crossing state line to have sex with a 17 year old, especially when the nature of the relationship would be considered mutually consentual in most states.
mikenyc352
If he paid for sex with a 17 year old and crossed state lines it is a federal crime “ Child Sex Trafficking is prohibited by 18 U.S.C. § 1591. This statute makes it a federal offense to knowingly recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, or maintain a minor (defined as someone under 18 years of age) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that the victim is a minor and would be caused to engage in a commercial sex act.”. It doesn’t matter the state age if consent. Cross state lines with someone under 18 for the purpose of commercial sex is a crime.
Doug
I really don’t think anything is going to come out of this. It would have happened by now. I’m also curious what happened to all the so-called lawsuits that were supposedly lined up waiting for Trump after he left the White House? Was this all just media hype?