In recent weeks, the House Ethics Committee has contacted new witnesses as part of its ongoing investigation into Matt Gaetz. The Committee is expanding its contact with individuals with ties to the initial Justice Department investigation into Gaetz. And investigators have started conducting interviews.
Aside from focusing on possible lobbying violations by Gaetz, the Ethics Committee has reached out to witnesses questioned as part of the Justice Department’s sex trafficking investigation into the Florida congressman.
The House probe into Gaetz’s conduct was reopened last July. The decision came after the Ethics Committee initially deferred its investigation at the request of the Justice Department. The department conducted its own years-long probe that ended without charging Gaetz last year.
Responding to the new developments, Gaetz said, “It’s great to see the Ethics Committee has interests beyond trading stocks. They seem to be quite the unusual whales.”
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Fritz Scheller is the attorney for Joel Greenberg, a once close friend of Gaetz facing 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges ranging from wire fraud to sex trafficking a minor. He told ABC News that he would not “confirm or deny” being in contact with the House Ethics Committee.
Meanwhile, Gaetz has criticized the Ethic Committee for “trying to weaponize their process.” “I was cleared by the Department of Justice and the FBI, who looked into my life for years,” Gaetz said at the time.
“Now, I believe that the House Ethics Committee is trying to weaponize their process against me because every once in a while up here, I’m a rabble-rouser, and I don’t go along to get along. And right now, I’m forcing this body to have to deal with our debt and our spending.”
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“I think all the days in Congress, there are probably in the seven years I’ve been in Congress, there have only been tens of days when I haven’t been under one form of ethics investigation or another,” Gaetz said.
He says that he has never been guilty of violating any ethical laws, and this time will be no different. The news comes weeks after Representative George Santos lost his seat in Congress.
His exit happened because of the release of a report by the Ethics Committee. It alleged the New York congressman used his political office to defraud victims of tens of thousands of dollars.
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Now that the Santos probe is over, the Ethics Committee has refocused its efforts toward Gaetz. According to reports, the committee expects to schedule more interviews. They will also receive documents related to the probe in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Gaetz continues to deny all wrongdoing. The Justice Department, following a yearslong sex-trafficking probe into the Florida congressman, revealed last February that he will not be facing any charges.
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