A year after the Justice Department decided not to bring charges against Representative Matt Gaetz in a sex-trafficking investigation, the House Ethics Committee is moving forward with an inquiry into him.
He had previously cooperated with a Justice Department investigation into whether Mr. Gaetz had engaged in sex trafficking of a minor, a federal offense that carries a minimum of 10 years in prison.
Last year, the Justice Department quietly closed the inquiry into Mr. Gaetz after investigators concluded they could not make a strong enough case against him in court, people familiar with the matter said.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Gaetz, Jillian L. Wyant, said on Friday that the Justice Department had received the same material as that sent to the Ethics Committee and “deemed it unreliable and declined to press charges.” The news media, she added, “should not be laundering smears from people in prison.”
It is unclear how useful the documents will be to the committee, which began its investigation into Mr. Gaetz several months ago, after concluding one into George Santos, the former New York representative who had fabricated large portions of his background as he ran for Congress.
Mr. Gaetz has claimed that the inquiry is in retaliation against him for taking the lead in ousting Kevin McCarthy as House speaker.
Mr. Scheller said at the time that the Justice Department’s decision proved that the country had “two systems” — one that favors politicians like Mr. Gaetz and penalizes those who are less powerful, like Mr. Greenberg.
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He had previously cooperated with a Justice Department investigation into whether Mr. Gaetz had engaged in sex trafficking of a minor, a federal offense that carries a minimum of 10 years in prison.
Last year, the Justice Department quietly closed the inquiry into Mr. Gaetz after investigators concluded they could not make a strong enough case against him in court, people familiar with the matter said.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Gaetz, Jillian L. Wyant, said on Friday that the Justice Department had received the same material as that sent to the Ethics Committee and “deemed it unreliable and declined to press charges.” The news media, she added, “should not be laundering smears from people in prison.”
It is unclear how useful the documents will be to the committee, which began its investigation into Mr. Gaetz several months ago, after concluding one into George Santos, the former New York representative who had fabricated large portions of his background as he ran for Congress.
Mr. Gaetz has claimed that the inquiry is in retaliation against him for taking the lead in ousting Kevin McCarthy as House speaker.
Mr. Scheller said at the time that the Justice Department’s decision proved that the country had “two systems” — one that favors politicians like Mr. Gaetz and penalizes those who are less powerful, like Mr. Greenberg.
The original article contains 430 words, the summary contains 221 words. Saved 49%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!