The Department of Justice has decided not to charge Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) after a yearslong investigation into underage sex trafficking allegations.
The DOJ informed the lawyers for at least one witness that it will not press charges against the congressman, CNN reported on Wednesday. Investigators recommended against bringing charges last year.
“The Department of Justice has confirmed to Congressman Gaetz’s attorneys that their investigation has concluded and that he will not be charged with any crimes,” Gaetz’s office told the Washington Examiner in a statement.
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Gaetz was accused of helping his former friend and associate Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg traffic a 17-year-old girl across state lines in 2017. Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December after pleading guilty as part of a plea deal.
Gaetz denies the allegations. He easily won his primary and reelection in Florida’s 1st Congressional District in November, refusing to resign when the news that he was under DOJ investigation leaked in May 2021.
During the investigation, Gaetz held that he was under attack from the Washington establishment.
“Folks won’t be surprised that bizarre claims are being made about me shortly after I decided to take on the most powerful institutions in the Beltway: the establishment; the FBI; the Biden Justice Department; the Cheney political dynasty; even the Justice Department under Trump,” he wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Examiner. “Yes, just like the mafia, the D.C. swamp protects its ‘made men.’ Since I’m taking my turn under the gun, let me address the allegations against me directly. First, I have never, ever paid for sex. And second, I, as an adult man, have not slept with a 17-year-old.”
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The news of the investigation created a firestorm on Capitol Hill, prompting the resignation of two of Gaetz’s senior staffers and then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) saying that Gaetz would be removed from his committees if the allegations turned out to be true.
A Florida businessman who attempted to extort Gaetz’s father, the former president of the Florida Senate, out of $25 million to secure a pardon for the younger Gaetz was sentenced to five years in prison in August.
