DOJ adds 2 top prosecutors to Matt Gaetz investigation, sources say – By Will Steakin and Alexander Mallin (ABC News) / Oct 21 2021
The Washington-based pair recently joined a team of investigators in Florida.
Two top prosecutors in the Justice Department were added several months ago to the ongoing federal probe examining sex trafficking allegations against Rep. Matt Gaetz, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.
The Washington-based prosecutors, one with expertise in child exploitation crimes and the other a top official in the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, have been on the Florida-based case since at least July. In recent months, they joined a team in Florida that’s been looking into whether Gaetz violated federal law by providing goods or payments to a 17-year-old girl in exchange for sex, sources confirmed to ABC News. The news of the new prosecutors was first reported by The New York Times.
Gaetz has not been charged with a crime and has denied any wrongdoing. In a statement to ABC News on Thursday, a spokesperson for Gaetz said, “Congressman Gaetz is innocent. The former DOJ official who tried to extort him is guilty. No number of political operative prosecutors at a politically weaponized DOJ will change this.”
The news comes just days after a federal judge in Central Florida granted a request from attorneys representing former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, Gaetz’s one-time self-described “wingman,” to delay Greenberg’s sentencing while he continues to provide prosecutors with information about his activities in connection with the ongoing federal probe.
