A new report from the Daily Mail, a British publication, states that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who has been under investigation by federal authorities for potential child sex trafficking, “is expected to be indicted within the next few weeks.” According to the publication, Gaetz’s expected indictment follows revelations about the Congressman’s involvement in criminal activity via ex-Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg, who is currently in jail on a slew of charges including child sex trafficking and has been “singing to the feds” including about Gaetz, according to a Daily Mail source.
Gaetz has claimed that the allegations against him are part of a supposed extortion plot targeting his family, but these claims are flimsy. According to Gaetz’s own telling, this supposed extortion attempt got going just last month — but apparently, the federal investigation into the Congressman has been unfolding since well before that point. The Daily Mail reported that “sources familiar with the matter say Gaetz’s claims are just an attempt to divert attention from his connection to the Greenberg case as the investigation closes in on him.”
As one source put it, discussing someone named by Gaetz as a supposed perpetrator of the alleged extortion plot:
‘The congressman impugned and damaged the reputation of someone who had nothing to do with this. Rest assured that Greenberg has been singing to the feds about his friend Matt Gaetz. That’s why Matt is so freaked out.’
The Mail had further specifics, adding the following:
‘Gaetz’s arrest is said to be imminent after the alleged victim, who has not been named, testified before a Florida grand jury this week saying she had sex with the conservative Republican before she turned 18, DailyMail.com has learned.’
As outlined in a new report from the Daily Beast, federal investigators were tipped off to Gaetz’s connection to Greenberg amidst their own examination of the now ex-county official. At one point, Greenberg — who is accused, among a slew of other travesties, of making fake IDs while on the job as Tax Collector — brought Gaetz into a Seminole County Tax Collector’s office for an after hours visit. Asked by a staffer about the incident after the discovery of surveillance footage, Greenberg said that he “was showing congressman Gaetz what our operation looked like.”
