Federal investigators are looking into a Bahamas trip Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz allegedly took in late 2018 or early 2019 as part of a broader investigation into whether he violated sex-trafficking laws, according to people familiar with the matter.
Gaetz allegedly went on a trip with a marijuana entrepreneur and hand surgeon named Jason Pirozzolo, sources said, claiming Pirozzolo paid for the Florida representative’s travel expenses and female escorts.
Investigators are looking into whether Gaetz was accepting paid escorts in exchange for political access or legislative favors, sources told CBS News.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Washington Examiner.
MAN WHOM MATT GAETZ ACCUSED OF $25M REQUEST CONFIRMS BIZARRE DOCUMENTS BUT SAYS IT WAS NOT EXTORTION
“Congressman Matt Gaetz is in the process of working on legislation up in Washington, D.C., that will help facilitate [marijuana] research on the nationwide level,” Pirozzolo told Ganjapreneur.com during a July 2018 podcast interview.
Arlo Devlin-Brown, a former prosecutor and partner at Covington & Burling, told CBS Evening News, “If there’s evidence of a quid pro quo that the congressman was provided with benefits in return for him sponsoring some legislation that’s of interest to the donor, that’s a federal crime.”
Pirozzolo made two donations of $1,000 each to Gaetz’s campaign in March 2016 and May 2017, Federal Election Commission records showed.
The Washington Examiner previously reported federal investigators have been looking into allegations that Gaetz had sex with a minor who was 17 at the time.
Gaetz and his lawyers have denied these allegations. Gaetz wrote in a Monday Washington Examiner op-ed that “there are exactly zero credible (or even non-credible) accusers willing to come forward by name and state on the public record that I behaved improperly toward them.”
“Rep. Gaetz has never paid for sex, nor has he had sex with an underage girl. What began with blaring headlines about ‘sex trafficking’ has now turned into a general fishing exercise about vacations and consensual relationships with adults,” a spokesperson for Gaetz told CBS News. “Yesterday, we even learned of some nonsense ‘pardon’ story that turned out to be false, and today it’s just more euphemism.”
On Friday, Gaetz will likely make what will be his first public speech since the sexual misconduct allegations emerged.
The Florida representative will be speaking at a Save America Summit organized by the pro-Trump group Women for America First at former President Donald Trump’s Doral Golf Club in Miami.
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The Washington Examiner reached out to Gaetz’s office but did not immediately receive a response.
