Woman testified that she saw Matt Gaetz having sex with 17-year-old, attorney says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two women told House Ethics Committee investigators that former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who has been tapped to be attorney general in the next Trump administration, paid them for sex, and one of the women testified she saw him having sex with a 17-year-old, according to an attorney for the women.

Joel Leppard, who represents the two women, described the testimony his clients gave the House ethics panel, which has been investigating the Florida Republican over allegations of sex trafficking involving a 17-year-old girl. The Justice Department separately ended its own sex trafficking investigation into Gaetz without criminal charges.

The House committee’s investigation effectively ended last week when Gaetz resigned from Congress after Trump nominated him to lead the Justice Department.

Gaetz has denied ever having a relationship with a 17-year-old, and any other wrongdoing. A lawyer who has represented Gaetz said he would not answer any questions when reached Tuesday by The Associated Press.

A Trump transition spokesperson said Tuesday that they are “baseless allegations intended to derail the second Trump administration,” adding that the Justice Department “investigated Gaetz for years and cleared him of wrongdoing.”

Gaetz is facing mounting scrutiny over the allegations, which threaten his complicate his path to be confirmed as the nation’s top federal law enforcement officer. Several Republicans in the Senate that have expressed concern about his nomination or refused to say publicly yet whether they will support him.

Leppard told ABC News, CNN and other news outlets that one of his clients saw Gaetz having sex with her then-17-year-old friend at a party in 2017 in Florida, while Gaetz was serving in Congress. The attorney told NBC News that his client testified she didn’t think Gaetz knew the girl was underage, stopped their relationship when he found out and did not resume it until after she turned 18. The age of consent in Florida is 18.

Both of Leppard’s clients told House investigators that they were paid for sex by Gaetz, sometimes through Venmo, the attorney said.

Trump’s pick of Gaetz has roiled many career Justice Department lawyers, who privately have expressed concern about having him lead the same agency that investigated the sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls. Trump, who has railed against the Justice Department over the two criminal cases brought against him, has described Gaetz as the right person to “root out the systemic corruption” within the agency.