The Florida attorney representing two women who were witnesses in both the federal investigation and House Ethics Committee probe into Matt Gaetz said the former congressman paid them more than $10,000 for sex.
ABC News obtained committee records of several payments from Gaetz from May 2018 to late January 2019, each between $200 and $650. Corresponding notes to each include the terms “gift,” “reimbursement,” “love you,” and “Joy!”
Leppard told ABC on Monday that in early 2019, Gaetz paid for two women to travel across state lines to New York to watch his appearance on Fox News' Outnumbered, see the Broadway show Pretty Woman: The Musical, and have sex with him.
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Gaetz, for his part, has firmly denied any allegations of wrongdoing. A spokesperson for the former Florida representative told Politico: “Merrick Garland’s DoJ cleared Matt Gaetz and didn’t charge him. Are you alleging Garland is part of a cover up?”
“She testified to the House that as she was walking out to the pool area, she turned to her right and she witnessed … her friend having sex with Representative Gaetz. And her friend at that time was 17," Leppard told CNN on Monday.
Leppard said on the same show Tuesday that his clients also have “numerous” relevant photographs to the committee.
“Despite the fact that my clients weren’t allowed to take pictures—there was a strict no-phone policy— there are numerous photos that they were able to provide, so they provided photos to the House at the New York event,“ Leppard said on OutFront.
”They provided selfies that Representative Gaetz sent them. They testified that they sent Representative Gaetz nudes from time to time at his request and also on their own accord. There also numerous text messages, group messages between them as well.”
“My clients are only two out of the over dozen witnesses that testified,” he continued. “I was present for two of those, and so what I‘m telling you is just a fraction of evidence that’s available of the thousands of documents and the 25 subpoenas, 12 witnesses.”
Gaetz was previously under federal investigation for sex trafficking, but was ultimately not charged. A friend of his, former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, was convicted of sex trafficking and sentenced to prison.
The House Ethics Committee report has not been released. Members are expected to meet Wednesday, when they may vote to release it.
The committee’s investigation closed once Gaetz resigned from Congress last week, just hours after president-elect Donald Trump announced him as the nominee for attorney general.
