Matt Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend to cooperate in feds’ sex crimes probe: report

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A former girlfriend of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) will cooperate with federal investigators who are looking into whether the congressman paid minors and escorts or offered them gifts in exchange for sex, according to a report on Friday.

The woman, who wasn’t named, is a former Capitol Hill staffer whose relationship with Gaetz could go back as far as the summer of 2017, CNN reported.

The news of the woman’s willingness to talk comes days after Joel Greenberg, a former Florida county tax collector and longtime friend of Gaetz, pleaded guilty in Orlando federal court to six charges — including sex trafficking of a minor. Greenberg also admitted that he had paid at least one underage girl to have sex with him and other men.

Gaetz’s name was not mentioned in Greenberg’s plea agreement or during Monday’s hearing.

In addition to the sex trafficking angle, investigators are looking into whether the pro-Trump firebrand and his associates tried to secure government jobs for some of the women they paid for sex, the Associated Press has reported.

The feds are also scrutinizing Gaetz’s connections to the medical marijuana sector, including whether his associates sought to influence legislation Gaetz sponsored.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations and has said he will not resign from Congress. The third-term congressman has cast himself as a victim of persecution by a politicized Justice Department.

Earlier this month, Gaetz described himself as “a wanted man by the deep state” during a rally with Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) at The Villages retirement community in Florida.

“They will not silence me, we will not back down, and the truth will prevail,” Gaetz added.

Last week, the Daily Beast, citing witnesses, reported that Gaetz snorted cocaine and had sex with a reputed escort at an Orlando resort where he was the featured speaker at a “Trump Defender Gala.”

Representatives for Gaetz did not immediately return requests for comment on the CNN report.

With Post wires

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