Woman told congressional ethics panel she saw Matt Gaetz having sex with minor at a Florida house party, lawyer says
A woman told the House ethics panel investigating Matt Gaetz that she saw the former congressman having sex with a minor at a Florida party, her lawyer said Friday.“My client testified to the House Ethics Committee that she witnessed Rep.Gaetz having sex with a minor at a house party in Orlando in 2017,” attorney Joel Leppard told NBC News.Leppard said the woman told the committee about the alleged inappropriate sexual encounter in April. The lawyer, who said he represents two witnesses who have provided testimony to the panel, insisted that the Ethics Committee release its findings related to allegations of sexual misconduct against President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general pick. “The American people deserve to know the truth about the person slated to become the top law enforcement officer in the country” Leppard argued. Leppard and a spokesperson for Gaetz did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment. The revelation comes a day after ABC News reported that the key figure in a Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving Gaetz told the House Ethics Committee that the Florida Republican had sex with her when she was 17 years old. The woman, who is now in her 20s, was subpoenaed by the ethics panel over the summer and testified that Gaetz had sex with her when she was a minor and still in high school, according to the outlet. The Justice Department informed Gaetz last year that it would not bring charges against him related to the probe, but the House Ethics Committee has been running a separate investigation into the former congressman, who abruptly resigned from Congress Wednesday after being nominated by Trump to lead the DOJ.Gaetz told The Post Thursday that the woman’s allegations were a “false smear. “These allegations are invented and would constitute false testimony to Congress,” Gaetz said in a statement.
“This false smear following a three-year criminal investigation shou...