House Ethics Committee Witness Says She Saw Matt Gaetz ‘Having Sex with a Minor’

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A woman told the House Ethics Committee that she personally saw Matt Gaetz having sex with a minor at a party in Florida in 2017, her attorney said Friday.

The testimony was offered during the lengthy investigation into Gaetz by his former congressional peers. Gaetz resigned from his seat on Wednesday after President-elect Donald Trump announced he intended to nominate the far-right former lawmaker to run the Justice Department.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday he did not wish to release the committee report, citing House “precedent.”

However, the attorney for the unnamed woman told NBC News that Americans deserve to hear what his client, who was not named, told Congress.

“My client testified to the House Ethics Committee that she witnessed Rep. Gaetz having sex with a minor at a house party in Orlando in 2017,” attorney Joel Leppard said. “The American people deserve to know the truth about the person slated to become the top law enforcement officer in the country.”

Gaetz, who was first elected in 2016, has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

A representative for the former congressman told ABC News, “Merrick Garland’s DOJ cleared Matt Gaetz and didn’t charge him. Are you alleging Garland is part of a cover-up?”

ABC noted Leppard is representing two separate women who both testified before the ethics committee. The network reported:

The two witnesses, who ABC News is not naming, both allegedly attended parties with the congressman. Gaetz’s one-time friend Joel Greenberg is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence after reaching a deal with prosecutors in May 2021 in which he pleaded guilty to multiple federal crimes including sex trafficking of the woman when she was a minor and introducing her to other “adult men” who also had sex with her when she was underage.

According to Greenberg’s plea deal, the woman, who ABC News is not identifying, met Greenberg online in 2017 and began meeting him in hotels and houses in the Middle District of Florida, where he “introduced the Minor to other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts with the Minor in the Middle District of Florida,” court documents said.