WASHINGTON -- Rep. Matt Gaetz, a prominent conservative in Congress and a close ally of former President Donald Trump, said Tuesday that he is being investigated by the Justice Department over a former relationship but denied any criminal wrongdoing.
Gaetz, R-Fla., is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paying her to travel with him, and he is under investigation to determine whether he violated federal sex trafficking laws, a person familiar with the case told The Associated Press.
The inquiry has been underway for nearly a year, and Gaetz has been aware for months that he was under investigation, the person said. The Justice Department also has been looking into whether Gaetz, 38, may have been involved in relationships with other underage girls, the person said.
The person could not publicly discuss the details of an ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
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Gaetz told Axios that his lawyers were informed that he was the subject of an investigation "regarding sexual conduct with women" but that he was not a target of the inquiry. He denied that he ever had a relationship with an underage girl and said the allegations were "as searing as they are false."
A subject is conventionally thought of as someone whose actions fall within the scope of a criminal investigation, whereas a target is someone of whom prosecutors have gathered evidence linking to a crime. But during the course of an investigation, a subject can become a target.
Gaetz's comments were made shortly after The New York Times first reported the investigation.
Gaetz said the allegations were part of an extortion plot by a former Justice Department official, whom he identified as David McGee. The lawyer has been in private practice for more than two decades.
"Over the past several weeks my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name," Gaetz said in a statement.
In response, McGee's Florida law firm released a statement saying the allegation that Gaetz made about an extortion attempt was "both false and defamatory."
Gaetz said his family has been cooperating with the FBI and that his father was wearing a recording device, at the FBI's direction, "to catch these criminals." He demanded the Justice Department release the recordings.
The Times cited three people familiar with the matter who said the scrutiny was part of a broader Justice Department investigation into one of Gaetz's political allies, fellow Florida politician Joel Greenberg, who was indicted last summer on sex trafficking and other charges that he stalked a political opponent. A judge ordered the former tax collector back to jail last month for violating the conditions of his release.
"I believe that there are people at the Department of Justice who are trying to criminalize my sexual conduct, you know, when I was a single guy," Gaetz told Axios.
"I have definitely, in my single days, provided for women I've dated," Gaetz said. "You know, I've paid for flights, for hotel rooms. I've been, you know, generous as a partner. I think someone is trying to make that look criminal when it is not."
Gaetz has not been charged with a crime. The Justice Department did not immediately comment.
Information for this article was contributed by Curt Anderson of The Associated Press.
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