really needed the money.”[1] Representative Gaetz’s financial records confirm that he wrote the check, and that he was present at the hotel identified by the woman, on the date identified by the woman.[2]
As another example, the Committee obtained text messages that appeared to show Representative Gaetz messaging a woman he knew through Mr. Greenberg, inviting her to travel on a private plane to Key West from May 19–21, 2017, with “2 guys, 4 girls. A very high-quality, adventurous group.”[3] She initially responded, “Yeah I’m in,” to which Representative Gaetz stated, “Fantastic. As is true with all time you spend w[ith] me, it’ll be fun and very chill.” The same woman was photographed with Representative Gaetz on May 19, 2017, in Orlando. The photograph depicts Representative Gaetz in a casual shirt with his arm around her in a dimly lit bar. She was also photographed in front of a helicopter with three other women associated with Representative Gaetz around the same time, including his then-girlfriend. After the Committee obtained copies of the text messages and “selfie” photo, there was public reporting about the evidence.[4] In response to the reporting, Representative Gaetz’s spokesperson released a statement asserting that “Rep. Gaetz does not know anything about the woman you’re referencing, though he takes thousands of selfies each year.”[5] Payment records reviewed by the Committee, however, show that Representative Gaetz paid $600 to the woman the same day he was photographed with her.
In February 2018, Mr. Greenberg introduced Representative Gaetz to two women with accounts on SeekingArrangement.com. They were generally older than the other women that Mr. Greenberg had previously introduced to Representative Gaetz, and they had a slightly different relationship with the two men. They were the only women paid by Representative Gaetz who denied to the Committee that the payments they received from the congressman were compensation for engaging in sexual activity.
One of the women, who was 25 years old when she met Representative Gaetz, testified that she understood herself to be more “sophisticated” than some other women on SeekingArrangement.com. In contrast to the women who almost exclusively interacted with Representative Gaetz in hotel rooms or at private parties,[6] this woman attended events as
- ↑ 18(a) Interview of Woman 5. Contemporaneous messages reviewed by the Committee show that Representative Gaetz also understood the urgency of the woman’s need to pay for classes on a deadline.
- ↑ Personal Checking Account #2; Personal Checking Account #4.
- ↑ Exhibit 6.
- ↑ See Will Steakin, House Panel Obtains Texts Allegedly Showing Gaetz Setting Up 2017 Florida Keys Trip with Woman His Associate Paid for Sex: Sources, ABC News (Feb. 14, 2024), https://abcnews.go.com/US/house-panelobtains-texts-allegedly-showing-gaetz-setting/story?id=107126493 (hereinafter February 14 ABC Article). Representative Gaetz repeatedly accused the Committee of being responsible for “leaking” this information to the press. The Committee was not responsible for the disclosure of evidence. The same records were in the possession of multiple individuals at the time of the disclosure due to the civil litigation relating to the allegations against Representative Gaetz.
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ The Committee received evidence that Representative Gaetz invited some of the younger women to hotels where political events were occurring. Representative Gaetz advised the women on what to wear when attending such events. See Exhibit 5 (Rep. Gaetz: “let’s talk wardrobe . . . [d]o you have a cute black dress? . . . Can’t be toooo short. But sexy def OK.”).
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