Matt Gaetz, the extremist former deputy chosen by Donald Trump to be the US attorney general, has an increasingly complicated path in the confirmation of his position, which corresponds to the Senate. A ‘hacker’ has had access to compromising documents about his sexual scandals, as ‘The New York Times’ revealed this Tuesday.
The hacker has obtained a folder of documents that had been shared in protected files between lawyers that includes an affidavit from a woman who claims to have had sexual relations with Gaetz in 2017, when she was a minor, at 17 years old. The hacked documents also include another sworn statement from another woman who witnessed that sexual contact.
Gaetz, considered the most controversial and polarizing representative in the House of Representatives, was the subject of investigations by the Department of Justice for alleged sex trafficking with minors and for violating federal trafficking regulations for paying for the travel of a minor from one state to another. other. The prosecution concluded the investigation in 2022 without having enough evidence to file charges against Gaetz. But the matter remained alive in the legislative branch, with an investigation by the Ethics Committee of the Lower House – where Gaetz has been a deputy since 2017 – in relation to that episode and other possible violations by Gaetz, such as the use of campaign funds. for personal expenses.
That committee was scheduled to publish its report on Gaetz this month, but everything blew up with the nomination of Gaetz – a staunch ally of Trump – to be the head of the Department of Justice. Gaetz resigned from his seat the same day the president-elect’s nomination was announced. Many saw this as a way to avoid the publication of the report, since investigative committees cancel these works when the person under investigation is no longer part of Congress.
The committee has a meeting this Wednesday to decide whether or not to publish the report, amid pressure from Republican leaders – who are the majority – and from Trump’s circles not to do so and demands from Democrats to have all the information. about who may be the next attorney general.
That position, like the rest of the relevant Cabinet positions, must be confirmed by the Senate. Some Republican senators – they also have a majority in the Upper House – have shown their discomfort with the prospect of Gaetz having that highly responsible position in light of his scandals.
Added to the ‘hacking’ of these documents were statements in the media the day before by one of the lawyers of those women who had sexual encounters with Gaetz. This lawyer, Joel Leppard, assured that one of his clients testified before the Ethics Committee that she had seen Gaetz have sexual relations with a minor and participate in parties with drug use.
The ‘hacked’ documents have not come from the Ethics committee or the Department of Justice investigation, but from a civil defamation lawsuit filed by a friend of Gaetz, Christopher Dorworth, against these women.
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