© Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty ImagesFlorida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images
- The DOJ is reportedly investigating whether Rep. Matt Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl.
- The report said the investigation was launched under then AG Bill Barr and senior Trump officials were aware of it.
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The Justice Department is investigating whether Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and violated federal laws against sex trafficking in the process, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
The inquiry is part of a larger probe into Joel Greenberg, a tax collector in Florida associated with Gaetz who was charged last year with 14 felony counts related to allegations that he stalked a political opponent, used a state database to create fake IDs, and sex trafficked a minor between the ages of 14 and 17.
According to The Times, the investigation into Gaetz was launched near the end of President Donald Trump's term, when William Barr served as attorney general. Senior Justice Department officials, including some Trump appointees, were briefed on the investigation given its high profile nature, the report said.
Gaetz's encounters with the 17-year-old girl reportedly took place in 2019, and investigators are said to be zeroing in on whether the Florida congressman paid for her to cross state lines, which would breach federal sex trafficking laws.
Gaetz told The Times the Justice Department had told his lawyers he was the subject - not the target - of the investigation related to Greenberg.
"I only know that it has to do with women," he said. "I have a suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward."
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