Matt Gaetz requested for pardon from Trump about intercourse trafficking scandal: Report

Misty Severi

September 17, 04:01 PM September 17, 04:01 PM

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was allegedly trying to find a preemptive pardon from former President Donald Trump for a Justice Division investigation into whether or not the congressman violated federal sex legislation, a former White Dwelling aide testified.

Gaetz informed John McEntee, who served as the director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office environment in the Trump administration, that he experienced asked Trump chief of team Mark Meadows for a pardon soon after he acquired that an investigation into him was introduced, McEntee testified to the Residence of Consultant choose committee investigating the functions of Jan. 6.

McEntee extra that Gaetz explained to him “he did not do anything at all improper but they are hoping to make his lifetime hell, and you know, if the president could give him a pardon, that would be wonderful," sources who have heard the testimony instructed the Washington Put up.

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Whilst Gaetz did not exclusively convey to McEntee that it was linked to the DOJ's investigation, McEntee mentioned he considered that was the context of the statements.

The Justice Division was investigating no matter if Gaetz paid out for women of all ages to journey across state traces for sex, no matter whether he experienced paid for sexual intercourse at all, and no matter whether he experienced a sexual relationship with a insignificant who was 17. Gaetz has denied all allegations, expressing the previous time he experienced a sexual marriage with an individual who was 17 was when he was also 17.

McEntee claimed that he had only spoken with Gaetz about pardons the moment, but could not recall if it was ahead of or after the occasions of Jan. 6. Gaetz had supported broad preemptive pardons for men and women in the Trump administration at the stop of Trump's expression in 2020.

A spokesperson for the congressman explained to the Washington Write-up that Gaetz has hardly ever requested Trump for a pardon, but did not comment on no matter whether he asked Meadows for a person.

“Congressman Matt Gaetz talked about pardons for numerous other people today publicly and privately at the end of President Donald Trump’s 1st term,” the spokesperson mentioned. “As for himself, President Trump resolved this destructive rumor much more than a yr in the past stating, ‘Congressman Matt Gaetz has never ever questioned me for a pardon.’ Rep. Gaetz proceeds to stand by President Trump’s assertion.”

The congressman from Florida has not been billed, but one particular of his associates pleaded guilty last spring to 6 legal costs, just one of which involved the sexual intercourse trafficking of a minimal.