
U.S. Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz (R-FL) delivers remarks in the Home Chamber for the duration of the fourth working day of elections for Speaker of the Dwelling at the U.S. Capitol Creating on January 06, 2023 in Washington, DC.
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The Department of Justice has made a decision not to criminally demand Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., in the agency’s two-calendar year probe of alleged sex trafficking, his attorneys mentioned Wednesday.
The DOJ’s choice was not a surprise, as just about two years had passed without prosecutors submitting fees versus Gaetz, irrespective of getting cooperation in their probe from his former good friend, disgraced Florida tax collector Joel Greenberg.
“We have just spoken with the DOJ and have been educated that they have concluded their investigation into Congressman Gaetz and allegations similar to intercourse trafficking and obstruction of justice and they have decided not to provide any fees from him,” Gaetz’s lawyers Marc Mukasey and Isabelle Kirshner claimed in a assertion to CNBC.
Gaetz’s office in a statement, claimed, “The Section of Justice has verified to Congressman Gaetz’s lawyers that their investigation has concluded and that he will not be billed with any crimes.”
A DOJ spokesman declined to remark.
The Washington Submit in September noted that occupation prosecutors experienced advisable versus charging Gaetz due to fears about Greenberg and a further prospective witness.
Greenberg was sentenced to 11 a long time in prison in December just after pleading responsible to sexual intercourse trafficking of minor, identification theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a community formal.
Prosecutors have said that Greenberg compensated at minimum a single small to have sex with him and other males.
Greenberg’s law firm in December criticized the DOJ’s managing of the scenario, noting that his shopper had reviewed “general public figures” through his cooperation, and that his accounts have been corroborated by other witnesses and records.
“Potentially the DOJ will appoint a unique counsel to handle those people people today that implicate broader countrywide fears,” Greenberg’s lawyer, Fritz Scheller, wrote in a courtroom filing. “Most likely the DOJ are learn strategists significantly beyond the capabilities of the undersigned. Or perhaps the DOJ is like Nero fiddling absent as Rome burns.”