A key figure in the subplot surrounding the Matt Gaetz scandal, whom the Florida congressman accused of being part of an extortion scheme against him, confirmed the authenticity of a text message and documents relating to seeking a $25 million loan but denied that it was an extortion attempt against his family.
“I never threatened the man. Matter of fact, it was the opposite. I told him if he decides not to help us, he’ll never hear from me again,” Bob Kent, a former Air Force intelligence officer, said in an interview with Michael Smerconish on Monday.
Federal authorities are reportedly investigating whether Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old and whether he paid women found on the website Seeking Arrangement for sex, allegations that Gaetz has repeatedly denied. When news of the investigation broke in the New York Times last week, Gaetz said that he suspected the timing of the news was intended to thwart another FBI investigation into an extortion attempt against him. Gaetz said his father, former state Senate President Don Gaetz, was wearing a wire and the next day was set to have a conversation that would detail how to deliver the money and that news of the investigation into him foiled that plan.
The Washington Examiner first reported and published in full Matt Gaetz’s evidence of the scheme against him. Don Gaetz forwarded a text message to his son that he received on March 16 from Kent proposing “a plan that can make [Matt Gaetz’s] future legal and political problems go away.” In a March 17 meeting, Kent and convicted felon Stephen M. Alford presented Don Gaetz with a three-paged typed document titled “Project Homecoming” detailing the plan.
DOCUMENTS DETAIL WILD ALLEGED MATT GAETZ $25 MILLION EXTORTION SCHEME
The request: Gaetz would loan Kent $25 million in order to fund an operation to rescue ex-FBI agent-turned-spy Robert Levinson from Iran and in return would “strongly advocate that President Biden issue a Presidential Pardon, or instruct the Department of Justice to terminate any and all investigations involving Congressman Gaetz.” Kent has claimed to know Levinson’s whereabouts for years despite the family members of Levinson saying in March 2020 that they presumed him to be dead based on information given by U.S. officials.
In a CNN interview Monday night, Kent confirmed sending the text message to Don Gaetz and making the request.
“I just heard rumors about the congressman. I didn’t have any specifics about his behavior. I hadn’t seen any videos about him or pictures about him,” Kent said.
Pressed on whether that text message could be seen as a threat and why he teed up Matt Gaetz’s legal problems, Kent said: “There is no threat. I don’t have anything to do with the indictment. I don’t have anything to do with the investigation into Matt Gaetz.”
“I wanted to meet with Matt Gaetz. I believed that he had the ability to raise the money quickly. And yes, I did put that in there, as a teaser, because as I said, Mr. Gaetz was in need of some goodwill,” Kent said. “We’ve worked with multiple people over the — over the years. And all of them have been in similar situations. I mean, a lot of them have been facing indictments or all looking for goodwill from the U.S. government.”
Exclusive: Bob Kent, a key figure in the Rep. Matt Gaetz extortion claim, responds saying he never threatened or made demands when he met with the embattled congressman’s father. https://t.co/6mxO3RJeD4 pic.twitter.com/zCiwLKpNbp
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) April 6, 2021
Kent also confirmed the authenticity of the “Project Homecoming” document.
“I didn’t write it, but my input is certainly in there. But that was written by my partner,” Kent told Smerconish, referring to Alford.
Kent said that Beggs & Lane attorney David McGee, a former federal prosecutor and lawyer for the Levinson family, connected him to Alford in October. The “Project Homecoming” plan said that money would need to be transferred to a trust account and named McGee.
In a Fox News interview on the night that the news of the investigation broke, Matt Gaetz initially named McGee as the person who was trying to extort his family for $25 million.
“This former Department of Justice official tomorrow was supposed to be contacted by my father so that specific instructions could be given regarding the wiring of $4.5 million as a down payment on this bribe,” Gaetz said. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that tonight, somehow, the New York Times is leaking this information, smearing me, and ruining the investigation that would likely result in one of the former colleagues of the current DOJ being brought to justice for trying to extort me and my family.”
McGee told the Daily Beast that any claims that he or his law firm were involved in extortion are “completely, totally false,” adding, “This is a blatant attempt to distract from the fact that Matt Gaetz is apparently about to be indicted for sex trafficking underage girls.”
Skeptics of Gaetz note that any shakedown attempt by Kent could be completely separate from the investigation into possible sexual misconduct and not related to a DOJ plot against him.
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Kent criticized Gaetz for bringing up this subplot as a way to distract from the FBI investigation into his own activities.
“If the congressman was actually worried about extortion and that was his motive, he could have done the same thing by contacting the FBI and left the Levinson family out of it,” Kent said.
