The ex-girlfriend of Rep. Matt Gaetz has been issued a subpoena to appear before the House Ethics Committee as part of the panel’s investigation into the Republican.
She is scheduled to testify via a Zoom call before the committee at the end of the month, according to a letter sent to her lawyer.
The unidentified woman has previously been contacted by the committee for an interview and told them she would be ‘pleading the fifth’, a source told ABC News.
Her lawyer, Tim Jansen, told the outlet: ‘Of course we will comply with the subpoena and we will appear before the committee.
‘However, we have informed the Staff that my client will be invoking her Fifth Amendment right before the Committee.’
The committee is demanding that Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend appear before them via a Zoom call on February 29
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and his wife Ginger attend the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, July 19, 2023
Sources also told ABC that investigators are looking to speak with his ex about allegations that Gaetz paid for sex, abused drugs and potential lobbying violations.
The outlet also reported that the woman has knowledge concerning a 17-year-old girl who was at the center of a sex trafficking investigation into Gaetz.
The Department of Justice closed their investigation into the claims, deciding not to charge Gaetz.
The ex was also one of the women who was allegedly on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas with Gaetz and others, including the minor, sources added.
It comes after a woman claimed she had sex with Gaetz at a ‘drug-fueled’ orgy that she was paid to attend after texts emerged suggesting Gaetz had solicited her for an excursion to the Florida keys.
The woman’s lawyer told the Daily Beast that she was paid to attend multiple sex parties with people in Gaetz’s circle and on one occasion had sex with the Republican Representative.
‘She told [the investigators] that she and lots of girls were provided all kinds of controlled substances at these parties,’ the lawyer said.
‘The availability of vast amounts of alcohol and controlled substances gave rise to the lack of control of the hormonal imperative, which inspired people to engage in intimate behavior that may or may not have been because they were financially remunerated.’
The shocking revelation follows Gaetz’s spokesperson denying the congressman’s knowledge of the woman when ABC News reported text messages showing Gaetz had arranged a trip and his associate Joel Greenberg was paying her for sex.
The Ethics Committee reportedly had a meeting behind doors on Thursday to discuss the allegations against the Florida congressman.
The ex was also one of the women who was allegedly on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas with Gaetz and others, including the minor, sources said. Gaetz is pictured here with his wife Ginger in 2021
The Ethics Committee, chaired by Republican Michael Guest, reportedly had a meeting behind doors on Thursday to discuss the allegations against the Florida congressman
The woman has turned over text messages, photos, and other evidence to the Justice Department and the House Ethics Committee, according to her lawyer. She also testified to the U.S. attorneys in response to a subpoena.
Venmo transactions reviewed by the Daily Beast show the woman received around $2,500 from Gaetz’ now-imprisoned pal Greenberg between March and July 2017.
Greenberg entered notes including ‘travel,’ ‘being cool,’ ‘stuff,’ and the misspelled name of another Greenberg associate for those payments.
In July 2017, she requested $500 from Greenberg and entered a policewoman emoji in the memo line.
In the same week, Gaetz, Greenberg, and Donald Trump’s confidante Roger Stone were captured in a selfie together in Miami, which they shared on social media.
The House Ethics Committee first opened an investigation into Gaetz in April 2021, but paused it during the DOJ probe into allegations that Gaetz had engaged in sex trafficking, which concluded in February last year as it decided not to charge him.
In the spring of 2021, Gaetz’s associate, who had also attended those parties, reportedly met with the woman to determine if she disclosed any information and details about the gatherings to others.
The lawyer said his client felt intimidated and the sole purpose of the meeting was to keep her mouth shut.
‘This associate was there asking her over and over and over what she had said, demanding she tell them,’ the lawyer said.
His client’s decision to come forward was ‘a difficult and emotionally taxing experience,’ the lawyer said.
In July 2021, Gaetz, Greenberg, and Roger Stone were captured in a selfie together in Miami, which they shared on social media
Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector, got 11 years in prison for sex trafficking of a minor and stalking a political opponent in a plea agreement with prosecutors in May 2021
‘The fact that nothing has come of it has kind of astonished her, who along with all the others had been the focal point of such an intense investigation,’ the woman’s lawyer said.
‘For them to go through all that and then for the target of the investigation to just get a wink and a nod has created for some of them a loss of faith in the system.’
The Daily Beast reported that it obtained text messages, transaction history, and photos, including a selfie of the woman posing with Gaetz.
Some of the texts and pictures it obtained matched with the documents described by ABC News in their reporting on the matter, the outlet reports.
It was also revealed earlier this week that texts reportedly show Gaetz asking the woman to fly on a private plane and join him, one other woman and three other men in the Keys.
‘Hey – any interest in flying on a private plane to the keys May 19-21?’ the congressman allegedly wrote.
Gaetz informed the woman, whom ABC News describes as ‘older than 21,’ the trip would feature ‘2 guys, 4 girls. A very high-quality adventurous group.’
‘Yeah I’m in,’ replied the woman.
Gaetz then allegedly wrote back: ‘Fantastic. As is true with all time you spend w me, it’ll be fun and chill […] You have a passport?’
Both ABC and the Daily Beast report that the woman never did end up taking the Florida Keys trip.
Greenberg has reportedly told investigators that he paid the woman to have sex with other men on their behalf.
Gaetz’s office denied the congressman ever knew Greenberg had been paying the woman for sex.
Bank and Venmo records show payments from Greenberg to the woman which sources say were for her to have sex at parties with Greenberg’s friends.
‘Rep. Gaetz has no knowledge of these activities by Mr. Greenberg and was not involved in them.
‘Rep. Gaetz has never paid for sex. Rep. Gaetz does not know anything about the woman you’re referencing, though he takes thousands of selfies each year.’
Gaetz’s office denied the congressman ever knew Greenberg had been paying the woman for sex
Gaetz, who has been married to Ginger Luckey, says allegations are a gross mischaracterization of his single days
Greenberg, a former Seminole County tax collector, got 11 years in prison for sex trafficking of a minor and stalking a political opponent in a plea agreement with prosecutors in May 2021.
He was a key witness in the Department of Justice’s probe into allegations that Gaetz had also sex trafficked the same minor.
Greenberg allegedly penned a letter to Donald Trump’s confidante Roger Stone in a bid to get a pardon from the then-President.
The messages, reported to be between Stone and Greenberg, purportedly reveal that the disgraced tax collector was willing to pay $250,000 in bitcoin to Trump’s longtime friend, a convicted felon, to help secure the pardon.
One message – said to be from Stone – indicates Gaetz had privately turned on Greenberg and had advised Stone not to secure the pardon for Greenberg.
According to a 2021 New York Times report, investigators had believed that Gaetz and Greenberg instructed women they met online ‘to meet at certain times and places, often at hotels around Florida, and would tell them the amount of money they were willing to pay.’
Gaetz, who has been married to Ginger Luckey since 2021, says allegations are a gross mischaracterization of his single days. And the probe ended without any charges against him.
When asked about the latest development, Gaetz told ABC: ‘The Ethics Committee is engaging in payback against me for ousting the person who singularly appointed every Republican – Kevin McCarthy.
‘I see through this sham and the American people will too. Exposing witch hunts is kind of my thing around here.’