We knew that Democrats and swampy Republicans would never just sit back and allow Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to be confirmed as attorney general for Donald Trump’s second administration without a knockdown, protracted fight and all Shenanigans are coming Efforts to block the nomination are increasing. The New York Times reported Tuesday morning that 24 files containing “damaging statements” about Gaetz were obtained from a “hacker,” but that the hacker has not yet released any of the information publicly.
An unidentified hacker has gained access to a computer file shared over a secure connection by lawyers whose clients have made damaging statements related to Matt Gaetz, the former Florida congressman who was elected attorney general by Donald J. Trump. . .
According to the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly, the information was downloaded at 1:23 p.m. Monday by a person named Altam Beezley. An attorney involved in the case sent an email to the address associated with Altam Beezley, only to be informed in an automated response that the recipient did not exist.
The files are all evidence of a motion filed in a Florida defamation case related to sex trafficking allegations against Gaetz – allegations that the U.S. Department of Justice investigated for 18 months before withering to press charges raise because, as sources told The Washington Post, The two main witnesses were not credible. Some of the evidence, including the sworn testimony of a woman who claims she had sex with Gaetz when she was 17, was sealed by the judge presiding over the case.
According to NYT:
The documents contain information that is under lock and key with the Justice Department, which is investigating Mr. Gaetz but has not filed charges. . .
The hacked information also includes sworn statements from [Christopher] Dorworth and his wife, as well as a statement from Michael Fischer, Mr. Gaetz’s former campaign treasurer, who is also said to have attended the party. It also includes various supporting materials, such as the gate logs showing who entered the Dorworth house property on the evening in July 2017 when the two women said a sexual encounter with Mr. Gaetz occurred .
Last week “Sources near the [House Ethics] Investigation” said ABC News that the woman testified before the committee that Gaetz had sex with her when she was 17. In response to ABC’s “Story,” Gaetz said:
“These allegations are fabricated and would constitute false testimony to Congress. This false slander, following a three-year criminal investigation, should be viewed with great skepticism.”
CNN reported that the woman said in her deposition that she had sex with Gaetz on an air hockey table at a party in 2017 and that her friend and Dorworth watched. Her friend said she also had sex with Gaetz at the same party. Dorworth had a different story, saying he didn’t know the woman and wasn’t even at his house during the 2017 party. In his statement Dorworth said:
“When this whole thing started, I didn’t really think about the fact that people would lie their way into these stories because of Matt’s political fame. I really believe that’s what happened.”
On Tuesday, Dorworth said on X that he had passed three polygraph tests related to his testimony in the case and that “Matt Gaetz did not do this.”
They are total and absolute lies. I’m not speculating about that. I passed three lie detector tests administered by a retired FBI special agent who was a polygraph administrator for 35 years to counteract the utter nonsense these people have blatantly made up. @mattgaetz have not done this. https://t.co/tR256xXW88
— Chris Dorworth (@ChrisDorworth) November 19, 2024
Federal prosecutors involved in the investigation told their superiors at the Justice Department that the woman had credibility issues:
Career lawyers have advised against charging Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) over a long-running sex trafficking investigation. They told Justice Department superiors that a conviction was unlikely in part because of doubts about the credibility of the two key witnesses, according to people familiar with the matter.
. . .
She was a key witness in the investigation, but people familiar with the case said she was one of two people whose testimony had problems that experienced prosecutors said would not hold up in front of a jury.
The woman’s statement and other materials the hacker allegedly downloaded are part of the materials the Miami Herald is seeking to unseal. So it’s engaging that they were now allegedly obtained by a hacker.
The other witness in the case that the DOJ found unreliable is disgraced Florida politician Joel Greenberg, who first made the allegations against Gaetz. He told federal authorities that Dorworth hosted parties where Greenberg, Gaetz and others “did drugs and openly had sex,” leading to Dorworth’s defamation lawsuit. In 2021, Greenberg was charged with dozens of crimes, including sex trafficking of minors, stalking, identity theft, defrauding federal taxpayers, and ultimately ripping off local taxpayers as part of a cryptocurrency scheme He pleaded guilty to only six of the 33 counts he was charged with. He is currently serving 11 years in federal prison.
Greenberg first came into contact with the woman through the website Seeking Arrangements, a website where teenage women search for sugar daddies. She was 17 at the time, but lied about her age and she and Greenberg had an ongoing sexual relationship. Accordingly Mollie Hemingway at The Federalist:
The woman is referred to as “AB” in news reports and legal documents. A 2023 lawsuit filed by Chris Dorworth, a former Florida state representative and friend of Gaetz, reveals that Greenberg said AB committed deviant acts on the Internet for money and “would do anything he wanted,” he said, because He paid her legal bills.”
The younger woman was later an “active participant” in OnlyFans and appeared in pornographic videos under a stage name, the lawsuit says. News reports say she gave the same information to the House Ethics Committee as the DOJ before it closed the investigation, saying she and Greenberg had credibility issues. Judge Presnell described the woman as “essentially a prostitute.”
According to court documents, Greenberg made the allegations against Gaetz and other Florida Republicans after they refused to lend a hand him in his attempt to obtain a preemptive pardon and paid the accuser’s legal fees.
Obviously anyone with Greenberg’s record of convictions would have a credibility problem, but Greenberg has also admitted to making up sexual allegations against another political rival. From the Washington Post:
Greenberg’s credibility would pose a significant challenge to any prosecution of Gaetz, in part because Greenberg admitted one of the crimes was fabricating allegations against a schoolteacher who was running against him for tax collector. Greenberg had sent letters to the school falsely claiming that the teacher had had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student – a similar claim to the Gaetz case.
Even Politico had this to say about Joel Greenberg (in 2021Emphasis mine):
What makes Greenberg’s case so unusual is the extent of the crimes he committed and to which he pleaded guilty. This makes him one of the most corrupt Florida politicians of all time. In total, there are five different categories of crimes to which Greenberg pleaded guilty, listed under different sections of federal law: sex trafficking of minors, stalking, identity theft, defrauding federal taxpayers, and ripping off local taxpayers as part of a cryptocurrency scheme.
After The New York Times reported the investigation into Gaetz in 2021, a number of Republicans on Capitol Hill distanced themselves from him, and the investigation had a chilling effect on Gaetz’s ability to effectively target deep state actors such as the FBI -Director Christopher Wray, former NIAID, fighting director Anthony Fauci and others. As I wrote at the time, after Gaetz Wray was accused of harassing COVID whistleblower and Chinese defector Dr. Wray during a congressional hearing. Yan Li-Meng was sharply criticized by the FBI:
Is it any wonder the entire Democrat/media intricate is trying to destroy Matt Gaetz? Remember when questions began circulating about his alleged inappropriate relationships with women and which government organization was “investigating” Gaetz. I’m sure this is all just a large coincidence and not an attempt to silence or intimidate Gaetz.
The House Ethics Committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to discuss the release of its investigative files related to Gaetz.
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