CNN Legal Analyst Hits DOJ Over Gaetz Non-Indictment: ‘They’ve Done This Backwards’

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig dragged the Department of Justice over its sex trafficking investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

On Friday, the Washington Post reported that federal prosecutors are unlikely to charge Gaetz after a lengthy investigation into whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and trafficked her across state lines.

In 2020, prosecutors reached a plea deal with Gaetz associate and Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, who appeared poised to be a key witness against the congressman. That no longer seems to be the case.

“This is a surprising outcome and I’ll tell you why,” said Honig on CNN Friday. “We don’t know exactly what evidence DOJ has behind closed doors. We don’t know how prosecutors are weighing that. Perhaps it’s a close call.”

Honig, a former federal prosecutor, ripped prosecutors for giving Greenberg a “sweetheart deal” only to come to the conclusion he’s an unreliable witness:

But here’s what really I find confusing and surprising and really bordering on prosecutorial malpractice. The reporting that we have is that the reason this case isn’t going forward is because prosecutors decided they can’t rely on the word of Joel Greenberg. He’s their star cooperating witness. This is the associated Matt Gaetz who pled guilty to an astonishing array of crimes ranging from sex trafficking to perjury to fraud.

But here’s the problem: you don’t give a cooperation agreement to a guy like Joel Greenberg unless you’re first convinced that he’s reliable and corroborated. You make sure that you have that first. Then you give that cooperation agreement and then you charge other people based on that information. And what’s happening here is, they gave Joel Greenberg this sweetheart deal, this cooperation agreement and now they’re deciding they can’t use him.

So they’ve done this backwards. They’ve crossed themselves up and left themselves without a viable way to charge Matt Gaetz.

Greenberg is set to be sentenced in December.

Host Alisyn Camerota asked Honig if prosecutors could rely on any women Gaetz may have had relations with while they were underage.

Honig replied in the affirmative, but added that prosecutors appeared to have been leaning heavily on Greenberg.

“It was clear that they intended at some point or hoped Joel Greenberg would be the keystone of their case,” he said. “And I should say this: there’s nothing wrong with cooperating witnesses. I mean, I used plenty of cooperating witnesses who had done really bad things during my career as a prosecutor. But the thing is, you don’t sign somebody up as a cooperator until you have fully vetted them and are committed and ready to use their testimony. They clearly did not do that here with Joel Greenberg.”

Watch above via CNN.