Report: Prosecutors Recommend No Charges Against Matt Gaetz – By Arianna Coghill (Mother Jones) / Sept 23, 2022
Attorneys are worried about the credibility of two central witnesses.
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Prosecutors at the Justice Department have recommended that Rep. Matt Gaetz not be charged in connection with a sex trafficking investigation, sources familiar with the case told the Washington Post. According to the paper, the federal prosecutors involved in the probe have advised their superiors at DOJ that they are worried about the credibility of two key witnesses.
According to the Post, the investigators—beginning in late 2020 during the Trump administration—”set out to determine if the congressman paid for sex in violation of federal sex-trafficking laws and have examined his dealings with [a] then-17-year-old.”
Gaetz has denied wrongdoing, asserting that’s he has never “paid for sex” and has never been involved with anyone underage. Earlier this year, during testimony before the Jan. 6 committee, a former Trump aide alleged that Gaetz had sought a preemptive pardon from Donald Trump, who Gaetz has vocally supported over the years.