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Gaetz Considering Leaving Congress For Role At Newsmax: Report


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14 hours ago, Shabibilicious said:

I'm always perplexed by the things seemingly God fearing people say about people struggling with addiction.  :huh:

 

GO RV, then BV

 

That's why you trust Jesus and not man. :twothumbs:  If I could only be like Jesus.  We are all a work in progress, that's why I'm still here on this earth, waiting for His return.  You want perfect, turn to Him that is worthy.

 

  

 

 

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12 hours ago, ladyGrace'sDaddy said:

It has always been my desire to help you rise up to a higher level of respect. At least that is my own personal desire. 

 

Thank you, I very much appreciate that sentiment....I can take care of myself though.  I won't let another poster stomp on me without defending myself.  I have more respect for myself and the forum rules than that.  ;)

 

GO RV, then BV

Edited by Shabibilicious
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7 hours ago, Markinsa said:

 

That's why you trust Jesus and not man. :twothumbs:  If I could only be like Jesus.  We are all a work in progress, that's why I'm still here on this earth, waiting for His return.  You want perfect, turn to Him that is worthy.

 

 

 

Agreed....we should all strive to be better, do better.  :)

 

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ABC News

Gaetz, under investigation for sex allegations, sought blanket pardon from Trump: Sources

JOHN SANTUCCI and KATHERINE FAULDERS
Tue, April 6, 2021, 9:05 PM·2 min read
 
 

During the final weeks of President Donald Trump's administration, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz asked the White House for a blanket presidential pardon --- a request that was ultimately not granted, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Gaetz’s seeking of a preemptive pardon for crimes that may have been committed was first reported by the New York Times.

Trump was aware of Gaetz’s request, but the idea was quickly dismissed inside the White House, sources told ABC News.

 

The Department of Justice is investigating whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her to travel with him, potentially violating sex trafficking laws.

PHOTO: Rep. Matt Gaetz accompanies President Donald Trump to Game 5 of the World Series baseball in Washington, Oct. 27, 2019.  (Andrew Harnik/AP, FILE)
 
PHOTO: Rep. Matt Gaetz accompanies President Donald Trump to Game 5 of the World Series baseball in Washington, Oct. 27, 2019. (Andrew Harnik/AP, FILE)

Gaetz, who has denied any wrongdoing, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

The investigation targeting Gaetz was launched last year when Trump was still president, sources familiar with the matter have told ABC News. It’s not clear whether the White House or Gaetz were aware of the ongoing investigation at the time. Then-Attorney General Bill Barr was briefed on the investigation's progress several times, the sources said.

 

Gaetz previously voiced his support for Trump's presidential pardons, appearing on Laura Ingraham's Fox News show on Nov. 24 to declare that Trump should "pardon Michael Flynn, he should pardon the Thanksgiving turkey, he should pardon everyone from himself to his administration officials to Joe Exotic if he has to."

 

"Because you see from the radical left a bloodlust that will only be quenched if they come after the people who worked so hard to animate the Trump administration with the policies and the vigor and the effectiveness that delivered for the American people," Gaetz said. "So I think the president ought to wield that pardon power effectively and robustly."

 

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/gaetz-under-investigation-sex-allegations-010500815.html

 

A blanket pardon for doing what?....Innocent men have nothing to hide.  

 

GO RV, then BV

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The Week

Matt Gaetz was the main opponent of Florida's nonconsensual 'revenge porn'

Peter Weber
Wed, April 7, 2021, 4:07 AM
 
 
e4f455c3e29196fa6dc35f29e349a1d1

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), when he was a state representative in Florida, killed a bill in 2014 that would have banned nonconsensual pornography, or "revenge porn," in the state. That bill, passed unanimously in the state Senate and with 17 House co-sponsors, died when a House committee Gaetz chaired never gave it a hearing. When a version of the same Senate bill, watered down in the House, did pass in 2015, only Gaetz and one of his roommates, state Rep. John Tobia (R), voted against it, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Former state Rep. Tom Goodson (R), the main House sponsor of the nonconsensual porn ban, told the Sentinel on Monday that Gaetz was the main opponent of the legislation, which makes it illegal to share intimate images of a romantic partner without their consent. When Goodson met with Gaetz to discuss his opposition, he told the Sentinel, "Matt was absolutely against it. He thought the picture was his to do with what he wanted. ... He thought that any picture was his to use as he wanted to, as an expression of his rights."

Gaetz, whose father was Florida state Senate president from 2012 to 2014, "was a prominent figure in the Florida Legislature" and "a powerful opponent to legislation he didn't like," the Sentinel reports.

 

After reports emerged that the Justice Department is investigating Gaetz for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old girl and paying for sex with other women, multiple people in Congress told The Washington Post and CNN that Gaetz had taken out his phone and shown them nude photos and videos of women he said he'd slept with. If Gaetz did that, it would be "a twist of irony," former Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.) wrote in Vanity Fair on Monday, because when that "happened to me" in 2019, "Matt was the first member of Congress who publicly and unapologetically defended me, saying that while I might have made mistakes, I was a victim in this circumstance."

"Sharing intimate images or videos of someone without their consent should be illegal," even if it was "to brag about your sexual conquests, like Matt has been accused of doing," Hill wrote. "I've spent the last few months advocating for a bill called the SHIELD Act to be included as part of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, which just passed the House and is headed to the Senate." Gaetz, she added, "voted against that bill."

 

https://news.yahoo.com/matt-gaetz-main-opponent-floridas-080730231.html

 

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CBS News

Sources: Gaetz trip to Bahamas part of federal probe into sex trafficking

f98196d3547a198d270067c0e04e6b57
 
 
Major Garrett
Thu, April 8, 2021, 6:55 AM
 

Federal investigators are looking into a Bahamas trip Matt Gaetz allegedly took in late 2018 or early 2019 as part of an inquiry into whether the Florida representative violated sex trafficking laws, multiple sources told CBS News.Gaetz was on that trip with a marijuana entrepreneur and hand surgeon named Jason Pirozzolo, who allegedly paid for the travel expenses, accommodations, and female escorts, the sources said.

Investigators are trying to determine if the escorts were illegally trafficked across state or international lines for the purpose of sex with the congressman. 

"Traveling across state lines is what creates a federal hook for a prosecution," Arlo Devlin-Brown, a former prosecutor and partner at Covington & Burling, said in a report that aired on the "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell." "It doesn't matter that [Gaetz] personally paid them as long as he knows someone is doing that."

 

The Justice Department declined to comment. Pirozollo did not respond to repeated attempts to contact him, and declined to comment on his relationship with Gaetz and whether he paid for escorts for him when asked by CBS News on Wednesday outside his office in Orlando. 

In a statement to CBS News, a spokesperson from Gaetz's office said: "Rep. Gaetz has never paid for sex, nor has he had sex with an underage girl. What began with blaring headlines about 'sex trafficking' has now turned into a general fishing exercise about vacations and consensual relationships with adults. Yesterday, we even learned of some nonsense 'pardon' story that turned out to be false, and today it's just more euphemism. It's interesting to watch the Washington wheels grinding so hard every time one of their falsehoods gets knocked down."

Investigators also want to know if Gaetz was accepting paid escorts in exchange for political access or legislative favors, the sources said.  

In a July 2018 podcast, Pirozzolo told Ganjapreneur.com that Gaetz was working to introduce federal legislation that would boost medical research of cannabis. 

"In fact, Congressman Matt Gaetz is in the process of working on legislation up in Washington, D.C., that will help facilitate research on the nationwide level. And we should see a lot of good benefit from them," Pirozzolo said in the podcast. "We've got Congressmen that are actually dealing with this federal legislation right now."

Gaetz introduced the Medical Cannabis Research Act in April 2018 and again in January 2019, though it never came to a vote. 

"If there's evidence of a quid pro quo that the congressman was provided with benefits in return for him sponsoring some legislation that's of interest to the donor, that that's a federal crime," said Devlin-Brown.

Pirozzolo is the co-founder and chairman of the board of the Medical Marijuana Physicians Association (AMMPA), and Gaetz was a speaker at two of the organization's conferences. The first took place in October 2017 when Gaetz was joined by Trump ally Roger Stone. According to the Central Florida Post, the conference was immediately followed by a fundraiser for Gaetz's congressional campaign. The second was in May 2018 at the group's "NFL and Medical Cannabis Conference" in Miami.

FEC records reviewed by CBS News show that Pirozzolo made two separate donations of $1,000 each to Gaetz's campaign arm, "Friends of Matt Gaetz," in March 2016 and May 2017.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/sources-gaetz-trip-bahamas-part-223106657.html

 

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The Week

Pro-Trump women's organization stands by Matt Gaetz, invites him to speak at summit

Catherine Garcia
Wed, April 7, 2021, 12:18 AM
 
 
c0647dcaf17912410740a56d096894a3

Supporters of former President Donald Trump stick together, as demonstrated by the Women for America First organization inviting embattled Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to speak at their upcoming summit.

Women for America First is ardently pro-Trump, and hasn't wavered in its support since the group organized the March for Trump rally in D.C. ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. On Tuesday evening, Women for America First championed Gaetz as one of the "few members of Congress" who will "stand up and fight on behalf of President Trump and his America First agenda," and that's why he's been invited to speak Friday at the group's "Save America Summit."

Gaetz is the subject of a Justice Department inquiry into whether he had sex with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her to travel with him out of state, but Politico reports that Women for America First doesn't seem to find this troubling — the group states on its website that it "won't be pushed around by bullies who tell us who we are 'supposed' to like."

 

Gaetz, who has denied having sex with a 17-year-old girl, tweeted that he was thankful for the invitation, and looked forward to sharing his "vision for our great nation" at the Save America Summit, held at — where else? — Trump's Doral resort in Miami.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/pro-trump-womens-organization-stands-041800457.html

 

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On 4/7/2021 at 8:05 AM, Shabibilicious said:
ABC News

Gaetz, under investigation for sex allegations, sought blanket pardon from Trump: Sources

JOHN SANTUCCI and KATHERINE FAULDERS
Tue, April 6, 2021, 9:05 PM·2 min read
 
 

During the final weeks of President Donald Trump's administration, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz asked the White House for a blanket presidential pardon --- a request that was ultimately not granted, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Gaetz’s seeking of a preemptive pardon for crimes that may have been committed was first reported by the New York Times.

Trump was aware of Gaetz’s request, but the idea was quickly dismissed inside the White House, sources told ABC News.

 

The Department of Justice is investigating whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her to travel with him, potentially violating sex trafficking laws.

PHOTO: Rep. Matt Gaetz accompanies President Donald Trump to Game 5 of the World Series baseball in Washington, Oct. 27, 2019.  (Andrew Harnik/AP, FILE)
 
PHOTO: Rep. Matt Gaetz accompanies President Donald Trump to Game 5 of the World Series baseball in Washington, Oct. 27, 2019. (Andrew Harnik/AP, FILE)

Gaetz, who has denied any wrongdoing, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

The investigation targeting Gaetz was launched last year when Trump was still president, sources familiar with the matter have told ABC News. It’s not clear whether the White House or Gaetz were aware of the ongoing investigation at the time. Then-Attorney General Bill Barr was briefed on the investigation's progress several times, the sources said.

 

Gaetz previously voiced his support system" rel="">support for Trump's presidential pardons, appearing on Laura Ingraham's Fox News show on Nov. 24 to declare that Trump should "pardon Michael Flynn, he should pardon the Thanksgiving turkey, he should pardon everyone from himself to his administration officials to Joe Exotic if he has to."

 

"Because you see from the radical left a bloodlust that will only be quenched if they come after the people who worked so hard to animate the Trump administration with the policies and the vigor and the effectiveness that delivered for the American people," Gaetz said. "So I think the president ought to wield that pardon power effectively and robustly."

 

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/gaetz-under-investigation-sex-allegations-010500815.html

 

A blanket pardon for doing what?....Innocent men have nothing to hide.  

 

GO RV, then BV

 

"According to sources"

 

Gotta do better than that....

 

Sources say you are a "scratch" golfer......why should I believe them when they aren't identified?

CL

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Business Insider

Matt Gaetz's associate Joel Greenberg will likely accept a plea deal, his lawyers told a judge

Sonam Sheth
Thu, April 8, 2021, 1:32 PM
 
 
Matt Gaetz
 
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., listens during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on the constitutional grounds for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019. AP
  • Matt Gaetz's associate Joel Greenberg will likely accept a plea deal, his lawyers said Thursday.

  • Gaetz and Greenberg are the focus of a wide-ranging federal sex crimes investigation.

  • Greenberg is facing 33 charges, including carrying out the sex trafficking of a minor.

Joel Greenberg, an indicted former Florida tax collector, will likely accept a plea deal, his lawyers told a judge on Thursday.

"We believe this case will be a plea," Roger Handberg, one of the federal prosecutors working on the case, told the court.

Gaetz and Greenberg are at the center of a broad Justice Department sex-crimes investigation. Greenberg has been indicted on 33 counts, including one charging him with carrying out the sex trafficking of a minor between the ages of 14 and 17.

 

Gaetz has not been charged as part of the investigation, but investigators are said to be examining whether he had sex with a minor in 2019 - the same girl involved in the sex-trafficking count against Greenberg - and if he violated federal sex-trafficking laws.

The Florida Republican has denied the allegations against him and claims the investigation into him is part of an elaborate scheme to extort his family.

Greenberg's lawyer, meanwhile, told reporters on Thursday after the court hearing that his client's knowledge could put Gaetz in hot water.

"I am sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today," he said.

These are some of the key threads in the Gaetz probe:

  • Investigators are also said to be examining whether Gaetz used campaign money to fund travel and other expenses for women.

  • The New York Times reported that the inquiry is focusing on Gaetz and Greenberg's interactions with "multiple women who were recruited online for sex and received cash payments."

  • One person familiar with the conversations told The Times that Gaetz told the women to say that he paid for dinners and hotel rooms as part of their dates if anyone asked about the nature of their relationships.

  • People familiar with the encounters told The Times that some of the men and women, including Gaetz, took MDMA before having sex, and that in some cases the Florida lawmaker asked the women to find others who may want to have sex with him and his friends.

  • ABC News reported that the sex probe is focusing not just on Gaetz's conduct in his home state of Florida but in other states as well.

  • CBS News reported that investigators are looking into a trip Gaetz took to the Bahamas in late 2018 or early 2019 with a hand surgeon and marijuana entrepreneur named Jason Pirozzolo. Sources told the news outlet that Pirozzolo footed the bill for travel expenses, hotel accommodations, and female escorts on the alleged trip, and that investigators are examining whether the women were trafficked illegally across state lines to have sex with Gaetz.

https://news.yahoo.com/matt-gaetzs-associate-joel-greenberg-173216938.html

 

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Business Insider

Breaking his silence, Trump says Matt Gaetz 'never' asked for a preemptive pardon and 'it must be remembered' that Gaetz denied the sex-trafficking allegations against him

 
 
Sonam Sheth
Wed, April 7, 2021, 11:18 AM
 
 
  • Donald Trump on Wednesday said Rep. Matt Gaetz never asked him for a preemptive pardon.

  • He also said "it must be remembered" that Gaetz had denied allegations against him.

  • The comments are Trump's first on reports that Gaetz is under a federal sex-trafficking investigation.

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday weighed in for the first time on the political firestorm surrounding Rep. Matt Gaetz and reports that the Florida congressman is under a federal criminal investigation over whether he had sex with a minor and broke sex-trafficking laws.

Most recently, The New York Times reported that Gaetz asked the White House last year for preemptive pardons for himself and some of his allies.

"Congressman Matt Gaetz has never asked me for a pardon," Trump's office said in a statement. "It must also be remembered that he has totally denied the accusations against him."

Gaetz has insisted that he never engaged in a sexual relationship with a minor or paid for sex. He also has argued that the Justice Department's investigation into him is part of an elaborate, multimillion-dollar extortion scheme against his family.

 

The former president's statement Wednesday comes more than a week after news of the Gaetz investigation first broke and with much of the Republican establishment staying mum on the matter. The Daily Beast previously reported that Trump had been advised to refrain from commenting on the allegations against Gaetz.

Few people, if any, from within Trump's orbit have defended Gaetz, and some former Trump aides have celebrated the controversy.

"He's the meanest person in politics," a former White House staffer told Insider last month.

"The reason you haven't seen people in MAGA world defending Gaetz is less about him being unpopular, which he is in a lot of circles, and more about the fact that he hasn't done a single thing to make people comfortable to defend him," a Trump confidant told Politico, adding that Gaetz's interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson defending himself was "an absolutely embarrassing trainwreck."

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-breaks-silence-matt-gaetz-151806826.html

 

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Thought I'd bring some truth to this thread filled with lies and innuendo

 

 

 

 

"At no time has any one of us experienced or witnessed anything less than the utmost professionalism and respect," staffers said.

Image
/sites/default/files/styles/hero/public/2021-04/GettyImages-1230954200.jpg?h=199d8c1f&itok=FcBKG7I1
Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz on Capitol Hill. Undated.
( Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

 

 

Updated: April 8, 2021 - 4:10pm
 

Female staffers from GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz on Thursday rallied behind the Florida congressmen amid a federal investigation about him allegedly begin involved in sex trafficking and having dating a 17-year-old girl.

"After the shocking allegations last week in the press, we, the women of Congressman Matt Gaetz’s office, feel morally obligated to speak out," the staffers said in statement. "At no time has any one of us experienced or witnessed anything less than the utmost professionalism and respect. No hint of impropriety. No ounce of untruthfulness."

The women said they have spent time with Gaetz in and out of meetings, behind the scenes, and while he travels. And they vouch for his innocence amid recent allegations, among them the 38-year-old Gaetz showed picture of nude women to fellow House Republicans while on the chamber floor. 

 

The New York Times reported earlier this month that the Justice Department is under investigation the possible sex trafficking while Gaetz was in the relationship with a 17-year-old. The concern is part is purportedly whether he paid for a minor's travel across state lines.

Gaetz has denied all of the allegations, saying they're part of a blackmail scheme.

 

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The Week

Adam Kinzinger becomes 1st GOP member of Congress to call on Gaetz to resign

Catherine Garcia
Thu, April 8, 2021, 11:06 PM
 
 
f35cdc79568cb6a7c054bf59d7cfbfae

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) tweeted a short message to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fl.) on Thursday night: Resign.

The Justice Department is investigating Gaetz, 38, and whether he had sex with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her to travel out of state with him. In his tweet calling on Gaetz to resign, Kinzinger also linked to a new Daily Beast report about the allegations against Gaetz and Joel Greenberg, a Gaetz associate and the former tax collector for Seminole County, Florida. Gaetz has denied having sex with a 17-year-old.

Kinzinger, a moderate, is now the first Republican member of Congress to publicly say Gaetz needs to step down. Kinzinger was one of the few party members who publicly criticized former President Donald Trump. In February, he earned the ire of Gaetz, a staunch Trump supporter, who used expletives to respond to reports that Kinzinger planned on launching a super PAC targeting far-right members of the GOP.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/adam-kinzinger-becomes-1st-gop-030600663.html

 

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The Week

Report: Matt Gaetz paid associate $900, who then gave $900 to 3 young women

 
 
Catherine Garcia
Thu, April 8, 2021, 10:19 PM
 
 
4a556f42668657dccf7bdff263f975e8

In May 2018, on the day after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) sent $900 to his associate, former Florida tax collector Joel Greenberg, via Venmo, Greenberg used the app to send three young women payments amounting to $900, The Daily Beast reports.

Gaetz paid Greenberg over two transactions. The first had "Test" written in the memo field, and the second said "hit up ____," with the blank being the nickname for one of the recipients. (Because the young woman had only recently turned 18 at the time of the transaction, The Daily Beast is not naming her.) In the Venmo payments he made to the young women, Greenberg wrote that the money was for "Tuition," "School," and "School."

Last week, The New York Times reported that Gaetz, 38, was the subject of a Justice Department inquiry into whether he had sex with a 17-year-old girl and paid for her to travel out of state with him. This investigation reportedly stemmed from a probe into Greenberg, who has been charged with sex trafficking of a minor, bribery, and stalking. Court documents say Greenberg was "engaged in 'sugar daddy' relationships," and the Times has reported investigators believe Gaetz paid for sex with several women he met through Greenberg.

Gaetz's list of Venmo transactions had been public before this week, The Daily Beast reports, and someone sent the outlet partial Venmo records for Greenberg. The records show that both men are connected on Venmo to the young woman The Daily Beast is not naming, as well as a woman Greenberg paid with taxpayer funds using a government-issued credit card, The Daily Beast reports.

 

During a hearing on Thursday, both Greenberg's attorney and prosecutors said it is likely Greenberg will strike a plea deal, an indication that he will probably cooperate with prosecutors. After the hearing, Greenberg's attorney told reporters, "I am sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today." Gaetz has confirmed the investigation is taking place, but denies having sex with a 17-year-old girl or paying for sex. He has not been charged with any crimes. Read more at The Daily Beast.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/report-matt-gaetz-paid-associate-021917712.html

 

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Business Insider

Gaetz and Trump rep challenge report that the Florida congressman was denied a meeting with the former president

Sarah Al-Arshani
Sun, April 11, 2021, 10:15 PM
 
 
Matt Gaetz
 
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is seen during a break in the House Judiciary Committee hearing on policing practices and law enforcement accountability in the Capitol Visitor Center on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
  • GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz was reportedly denied a meeting with Trump, CNN reported.

  • Gaetz called the report false and said he never sought out a meeting with the former president.

  • The DOJ is currently investigating whether Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws.

GOP Congressman Matt Gaetz, who is facing federal sex trafficking allegations, was reportedly denied a meeting with Donald Trump as aides try to distance the former president from him, CNN reported.

Two anonymous sources who were familiar with the situation told the outlet that the Florida congressman tried to schedule a visit to Mar-a-Lago this week but was denied.

Following CNN's report, Gaetz took to Twitter to say he never asked for a meeting.

 

"This is a total lie. I am on a pre-planned vacation with my fiancée. I was welcomed at Trump Doral days ago," Gaetz said in a tweet. "No such meeting was denied nor sought. Gabby, "unnamed sources" lied. When can we expect a retraction?"

Trump spokesman Jason Miller also said no meeting was ever sought.

"This @CNN story is complete fake news. No such scheduling or meeting request was ever made, and therefore, it could never have been declined. Take note that this story has zero on-the-record sources. It's literally made-up. We are demanding a full retraction. #FakeNews," Miller said in a tweet.

The Justice Department is investigating whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and violated federal sex trafficking laws. There have been a number of new developments in the two weeks since news of the investigation was first revealed.

Gaetz, whose office issued a statement saying he "has never paid for sex," allegedly sent $900 to political ally Joel Greenberg, who was previously indicted on sex trafficking charges. Greenberg then sent the money to three women via payment apps.

The House Ethics Committee has opened a bipartisan investigation into the allegations against Gaetz. He has been accused of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, and sharing nude images on the House floor.

Trump was reportedly talked out of defending Gaetz by his aides as allegations surfaced and has remained silent on the issue. He has, however, denied reports that Gaetz ever asked for a blanket pardon from him before he left office.

Gaetz's office did not reply to Insider's email request for comment.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/gaetz-trump-rep-challenge-report-021547544.html

 

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2 hours ago, Shabibilicious said:

Trump was reportedly talked out of defending Gaetz by his aides

 

"Reportedly"

 

Recently the MSM was wrong about Gaetz wanting Trump to pardon him before Trump left office.....as I recall those were "unconfirmed reports"...

Trump said it was MSM BS .

 

Wanna bet on this one?

CL

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Liz Cheney Calls Matt Gaetz Sexual Misconduct Charges 'Sickening'

BY JASON LEMON ON 4/11/21 AT 12:39 PM EDT
 
Representative Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican and the chair of the House Republican Conference, described the allegations that GOP Florida Representative Matt Gaetz paid a minor for sex "sickening" in a Sunday interview.

Prior to the allegations emerging against Gaetz, the congressman—a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump—had strongly criticized Cheney for voting to impeach the former president following the assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Gaetz participated in an unsuccessful House GOP effort to remove Cheney from her leadership position within the caucus and even traveled to Wyoming to lead a rally against her.

 

"You know as the mother of daughters, the charges certainly are sickening and as the Speaker [of the House Nancy Pelosi] noted, there is an ethics investigation underway. There are also criminal investigations underway. And I'm not going to comment further on that publicly right now," Cheney told CBS News' Face the Nation.

 

Liz Cheney Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) said Sunday that the allegations of sexual misconduct against Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) are "sickening." In this photo, she speaks during a news conference with House Republicans at the U.S. Capitol on March 11 in Washington, D.C.DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
 
Asked if she was surprised by the allegations, the Wyoming Republican responded: "I'm not going to comment further.

Why It Matters

The Justice Department, as part of a probe that began last year while Trump's former Attorney General William Barr still led the agency, is investigating allegations of sex trafficking and whether Gaetz paid for and had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old. Joel Greenberg, a close Gaetz associate and former county tax collector near Orlando, is expected to plead guilty to charges related to the alleged sex scandal and other crimes in a plea deal agreement with investigators.

 

"I'm sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today," Greenberg's attorney, Fritz Scheller, told reporters outside a federal courthouse in Orlando last week.

Gaetz and Cheney represent rival factions within the Republican Party. The Florida congressman has long been staunchly supportive of Trump, fully embracing his brash style of divisive politics and conspiracy theories. Cheney, conversely, routinely criticized Trump during his time in office and joined Democrats as well as nine other GOP House members in voting to impeach the then president for inciting his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol on January 6. This condemnation drew the ire of Trump and Gaetz, after the former president had already clashed repeatedly with the Wyoming lawmaker.

Opposing View

Gaetz has denied the allegations and has claimed that his family is being extorted. The congressman has argued that he is facing political persecution due to his support for Trump and opposition to establishment politicians, such as Cheney

"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," Gaetz wrote in an opinion article published by the Washington Examiner on Monday.

Newsweek reached out to Gaetz's office for further comment.

 

https://www.newsweek.com/liz-cheney-calls-matt-gaetz-sexual-misconduct-charges-sickening-1582729

 

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Politico

‘Felt like a setup’: WhatsApp chat shows Gaetz ally scrambling to contain fallout

3ad4fb113f247e3080f0c2188371c068
 
Marc Caputo, Josh Gerstein and Matt Dixon
Mon, April 12, 2021, 8:00 AM
 
 

MIAMI — The feds were closing in. And Rep. Matt Gaetz’s friend, Joel Greenberg, was in a panic.

The Florida county tax collector was five days away from a federal indictment for sex trafficking involving a 17-year-old — the same one Gaetz is now being investigated over — so Greenberg reached out to mutual friends on Aug. 14 last year and tried to enlist them in his defense, according to a WhatsApp chat shared with federal investigators and obtained by POLITICO.

He fumed that the prosecutor should be fired. He suspected that a political consultant “was the rat here.” He fretted that investigators had combed through his Venmo cash app history, fearing it led them to the former teen at the center of the case.

Greenberg also said he was paying the legal fees for the woman, who is now 20 years old.

 

The WhatsApp messages shed light on key aspects of the scandal consuming the Florida Republican congressman and close ally of President Donald Trump — and on the state of mind of the man Gaetz once called his “wingman” as he sought to manage the fallout.

Greenberg went so far as to push Gaetz to use his influence with Trump for a pardon, according to two sources familiar with the discussions, including one who heard Greenberg say it repeatedly.

Asked about the request from Greenberg, Gaetz previously declined to confirm or deny that it occurred. But the congressman said he did not ask Trump to pardon Greenberg. Gaetz couldn’t be reached this weekend to discuss the WhatsApp messages that are the subject of this story.

Gaetz’s allies now fear that Greenberg is preparing to strike a deal with prosecutors to deliver Gaetz, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing. The congressman has not been charged and so far no evidence has surfaced against him beyond anonymous allegations he had sex with a minor or paid for prostitutes. But the scandal has seriously hobbled Gaetz, who built a national reputation as one of the staunchest defenders of Trump and has relentlessly attacked the very Department of Justice that’s now investigating him.

Greenberg faces decades of prison time from a total of 33 different charges, including identity theft, a host of financial crimes and stalking a political opponent he falsely smeared as a pedophile. But the alleged sex-trafficking of the former 17-year-old is the most serious charge and carries a 10-year mandatory-minimum prison sentence.

In the Aug. 14 WhatsApp chat with a politically influential Republican mutual friend of Gaetz and Greenberg, Greenberg initially referred to the young woman as “Vintage 99” — a fine-wine reference to her birth year that she used as her online name on SeekingArrangement, a dating website that connects women with so-called sugar daddies.

“I’m having to pay for vintage 99 to retain [a] lawyer,” Greenberg wrote in the WhatsApp chat to the friend, who discussed the messages with POLITICO on condition of anonymity. “They [federal agents] contacted her and are wanting her to talk. She doesn’t want to talk to them.”

Nor does she want to talk to the press. She blocked a POLITICO reporter on social media and her iPhone after she was called and texted to discuss the case Monday. Her attorney couldn’t be reached. POLITICO is withholding her name because she is the alleged victim of a sex crime.

Greenberg’s defense attorney, Fritz Scheller, said his client is not paying anyone else’s legal bills that he’s aware of, and noted he couldn’t speak to Greenberg’s arrangements before Scheller began to represent the defendant in December.

Scheller suggested his client might cut a deal.

“I am sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today,” Scheller said after a hearing last Thursday.

It’s not illegal for a suspect to pay the legal bills of a potential witness against him, but attorneys say the arrangement could raise questions about the case against him.

“Imagine if this was a drug case and the drug lord was paying the lawyer of a prosecution witness. What would people say?” said an attorney representing an individual who spoke to prosecutors in the case, and who was not authorized to speak on the record.

“Any time you get something of value, it’s a potential problem and you’re subject to impeachment. It can make a witness less credible,” the attorney said. “At the same time, to make this case [against Gaetz] work, the evidence just needs to be piled on ... They’re interviewing everyone.”

In the WhatsApp chat obtained by POLITICO, Greenberg told the friend that his attorney at the time informed him that “everyone is going to need a lawyer.” But the friend then called Greenberg’s attorney — and determined that Greenberg wasn’t telling him the truth.

“I have nothing to do with any of this and think it is incredibly uncool you are trying to lawyer me up to be a part of it, Joel,” he wrote back via WhatsApp. “Not. F---ing. Cool.”

The friend told POLITICO that Greenberg’s message “felt like a setup.”

“It’s the same playbook he used against the teacher he falsely smeared as a pedophile,” the friend said, referring to a separate charge against Greenberg. “And he’ll do the same thing to Gaetz if he can get less prison time.”

Greenberg and Gaetz shared girlfriends, according to interviews with friends and associates who know the two men, and Greenberg introduced him to young women he met on SeekingArrangement. One friend who spent time in the company of both men said he was of the impression that the two engaged with women in more of a “sugar daddy relationship” where money changed hands, though it wasn’t explicitly prostitution.

“I know Joel and Matt paid some of their bills, rent, tuition, things like that,” the friend said. “This is a thing that happens when you’re successful and you have these relationships: ‘Are we not supposed to help these women who mean something to us and that we care about?’ Is that prostitution? Maybe if you’re a Puritan.”

Since many of the transactions in question took place on Venmo, Greenberg speculated in his WhatsApp messages that those mobile payment records were the likely evidentiary link to the woman who was allegedly sex-trafficked as a minor.

“I’m trying to let everyone know who came into contact with any of these girls that the feds are going through my Venmo history and don’t want anyone to be caught off guard,” Greenberg wrote to his friend, who promptly replied that he wasn’t on Venmo, had no such history with any of these women and begged him to “absolutely positively leave my name the f--- out of any of this. I’m serious about this Joel.”

“Understood,” Greenberg replied. “My only concern is I don't know what could possibly come out of their mouths, and if any of them mentioned places where we met etc. I would think you would want to at least have a heads up if some chick says she partied at your house or something. That's all. I'm trying to cover every possible angle I can think of. I wouldn't want anyone to be blindsided.”

The friend insisted that he had nothing to do with what Greenberg was describing and was not involved in his schemes.

“I know you aren’t. I didn’t mean to alarm you. You’ve done nothing wrong,” Greenberg replied.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/felt-setup-whatsapp-chat-shows-120054666.html

 

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Politico

New details shed light on Gaetz’s Bahamas trip

 
 
Marc Caputo and Matt Dixon
Tue, April 13, 2021, 2:22 PM
 
 
Congressman Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., speaks at a
 
Congressman Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., speaks at a "Women for American First" event Friday, April 9, 2021, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

MIAMI — The group took off for their Bahamas weekend getaway on three separate flights. Most of the passengers, which included at least five young women, flew out of Orlando on two separate private planes. Matt Gaetz flew commercial. 

The details of that September 2018 trip are sparse, but they are critical to the allegations against Gaetz, the Florida congressman currently the subject of a federal sex-crimes investigation that is threatening his career.

Gaetz, who has not been charged, has consistently denied the two anonymous claims against him: that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl and paid for sex.

Gaetz’s predicament as the subject of a serious investigation became clearer this winter when federal agents executed a search warrant and seized his iPhone, according to interviews with three people who were told of the matter by Gaetz, who changed his phone number in late December. Around that time, the sources said, federal agents also seized his former girlfriend’s phone before she went into work in the morning. She declined comment.

 

At the time of the 2018 trip, Gaetz was a top adviser to Republican Ron DeSantis, who was running for governor, and went on to manage his transition team months later. DeSantis has long been a top Gaetz ally but declined to comment on his legal woes Monday when asked by reporters.

In the Bahamas, Gaetz was joined by two GOP allies: Halsey Beshears, then a state legislator, and Jason Pirozzolo, a hand surgeon and Republican fundraiser for DeSantis, according to three sources, including one who was part of the group.

Also among those on the trip: the former minor who is key to the investigation, whose presence on the trip was previously unreported. According to one of the women in the group who spoke on condition of anonymity, everyone on the trip was over the age of 18 — including the woman in question, who had turned 18 years old months before the trip, she said. 

The woman was born in December 1999, according to a personal website, but POLITICO has been unable to confirm the woman’s official date of birth.

No one on the trip engaged in prostitution, the source said.

But questions surrounding the ages of some of the women surfaced immediately upon their return — three of them looked so young when they returned on Beshears’ private plane that U.S. Customs briefly stopped and questioned him, according to sources familiar with the trip, including a woman on the flight.

As the investigation intensified this winter, Beshears abruptly resigned as Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation Secretary, a post that made him the state’s top business regulator, noting he had contracted Covid-19. But he confided to two friends recently that he believes he’s the subject of the investigation, the friends told POLITICO. 

Beshears refused comment and his lawyer did not return calls. Both the lawmaker and his former girlfriend declined to comment.

Conspicuously absent from the 2018 Bahamas trip was another official in their circle, former Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg, whose alleged criminal conduct sparked the wide-ranging investigation. Indicted last August for sex trafficking the underage girl in question — conduct federal authorities say occurred between May and November 2017 — Greenberg is currently in jail and reportedly contemplating a deal with federal prosecutors as he faces 33 charges including federal stalking and a host of financial crimes. In July 2020, as the full scope of his legal troubles were coming into view, Greenberg made a failed attempt to get politically connected friends to ask Gaetz to get President Donald Trump to pardon him, two of the friends told POLITICO.

Greenberg was not invited to the Bahamas, the three sources said, because of a conflict with Pirozzolo’s girlfriend. Pirozzolo, who recently told patients that his office was closed “due to a family emergency,” could not be reached for comment, nor could his lawyer or girlfriend.

The woman whose age is in question has also declined to comment on the case, in which investigators are also examining whether sex was explicitly exchanged for money or drugs. POLITICO is withholding her name because she is the alleged victim of a sex crime.

Before his indictment for sex-trafficking the underage girl, Greenberg told a mutual friend in an Aug. 14 WhatsApp chat last year that federal agents sought to speak to her, but she was unwilling. 

“They contacted her and are wanting her to talk. She doesn’t want to talk to them,” he wrote to the friend.

The woman’s testimony would be crucial in a case against Gaetz — among other details, she can clarify her age when they allegedly had sexual relations. Three Gaetz friends told POLITICO that the lawmaker, who was single at the time, had told them he had sexual relations with the woman after she turned 18.

And as one of at least five women who went on the Bahamas trip with Gaetz, she could shed light on details that would be key to a prosecution under the Mann Act, which forbids transporting people of any age across state lines for purposes of prostitution. An attorney representing another target in the Greenberg indictment said investigators are examining the Bahamas trip in light of the Mann Act.

Such cases can be complicated, which is one reason prosecutors in Florida gave up more than a decade ago on filing federal charges against notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Federal prosecutors in New York did indict Epstein in 2019, but he died in jail weeks later, apparently by suicide. 

Former federal judge Paul Cassell, a University of Utah law professor, cautioned that the statute “is largely in disuse but it still remains a theoretical option” for prosecutors.

Some of the women on the Bahamas trip entered the orbit of Gaetz and Greenberg through the SeekingArrangement website — a dating website that connects women with so-called sugar daddies — according to interviews with friends and associates who know the two men, and Greenberg introduced him to young women he met on the site. Gaetz said he’s never been on the site.

Lawrence Walters, a First Amendment lawyer in Orlando who has represented sugar daddy websites and clients accused of prostitution, said prosecutions in such cases can be difficult.

“Every type of dating relationship has an exchange of value. It’s largely why law enforcement hasn’t wanted to weigh into these sugar daddy-type relationships area because of that tremendous grey area,” Walters said, noting the distinction between “dating and exchange of value in a relationship vs. all-out commercial prostitution. We don’t have a lot of court rulings on that. Prosecutors tend to focus on very clear cases so they don’t get into these issues. But if they wanted to pursue a sugar daddy-type relationship, dating relationship, there are very thorny personal, societal and constitutional issues they have to deal with.”

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/details-shed-light-gaetz-bahamas-182240617.html

 

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On 4/13/2021 at 11:36 AM, Shabibilicious said:
 
Representative Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican and the chair of the House Republican Conference, described the allegations that GOP Florida Representative Matt Gaetz paid a minor for sex "sickening" in a Sunday interview

Says the freakshow to stupid to understand that women aren't supposed to have sex with each other. Liz is as great a monster as her rapist dad. 

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56 minutes ago, ladyGrace'sDaddy said:

Says the freakshow to stupid to understand that women aren't supposed to have sex with each other. Liz is as great a monster as her rapist dad. 

 

 

Note to self:  Whilst proclaiming another "to" stupid, it's always best to use the proper spelling of "too"....I'm not the spelling police....simply responding to your response to my post.  ;)

 

GO RV, then BV

 

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