The FBI inquiry into whether Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old has expanded overnight to include allegations that Gaetz paid for sex with multiple women online. The New York Times reports that Gaetz and another man have been accused of using the website Seeking Arrangements—known for attracting sugar babies and sugar daddies—to meet the women.
From the New York Times:
Investigators believe Joel Greenberg, the former tax collector in Seminole County, Fla., who was indicted last year on a federal sex trafficking charge and other crimes, initially met the women through websites that connect people who go on dates in exchange for gifts, fine dining, travel and allowances, according to three people with knowledge of the encounters. Mr. Greenberg introduced the women to Mr. Gaetz, who also had sex with them, the people [close to the investigation] said.
One of the women who had sex with both men also agreed to have sex with an unidentified associate of theirs in Florida Republican politics, according to a person familiar with the arrangement. Mr. Greenberg had initially contacted her online and introduced her to Mr. Gaetz, the person said.
Mr. Gaetz denied ever paying a woman for sex.
This is a new, splashy fixture of the original investigation that has already made Gaetz the center of well-deserved mockery. For a politician from the party of so-called family values—and, more recently, conspiracy theories about sex trafficking rings instrumented by the liberal elite—to be embroiled in an alleged “sex scandal” is a special kind of schadenfreude, and Gaetz certainly deserves it.
Gaetz’s office offered the following statement to the Times: “Matt Gaetz has never paid for sex. Matt Gaetz refutes all the disgusting allegations completely. Matt Gaetz has never ever been on any such websites whatsoever. Matt Gaetz cherishes the relationships in his past and looks forward to marrying the love of his life.”