Trump pick Matt Gaetz under further scrutiny amid fresh allegations

An attorney representing two women who he says testified before the House ethics committee has claimed that the former congressman Matt Gaetz paid both women for sex and that one of the women alleged she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a minor.

The new allegations were revealed by the attorney Joel Leppard during an interview with ABC News on Monday – less than a week after Gaetz resigned from Congress following his nomination by Donald Trump to serve as attorney general in his second administration.

In the interview, Leppard claimed that his clients were paid by Gaetz using Venmo and said that one of the women testified to the committee that she saw Gaetz at a house party in 2017 having sex with a 17-year-old girl.

“She testified that in July of 2017 at his house party, she was walking out to the pool area, and she looked to her right, and she saw Rep Gaetz having sex with her friend, who was 17,” Leppard said.

Ahead of the Senate’s consideration of Gaetz’s nomination, Leppard said that he believed “several questions demand answers”, adding: “What if multiple credible witnesses provided evidence of behavior that would constitute serious criminal violations?”

In a statement sent to ABC News, Alex Pfeiffer, Trump’s transition spokesperson, called the allegations against Gaetz “baseless”, adding that they are “intended to derail the second Trump administration”.

“The Biden justice department investigated Gaetz for years and cleared him of wrongdoing,” Pfeiffer added.

Gaetz was investigated by the justice department on suspicion of child sex trafficking, but the department decided not to bring charges. The House ethics committee then launched its own inquiry into allegations that Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and other ethical breaches.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations against him and insisted that he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

The House ethics committee had reportedly put together a report on the findings of its investigation into Gaetz and, according to the New York Times, were planning on voting last week on whether to release it, but his resignation halted that process and in effect ended the ethics committee investigation.

It was reported on Monday that the committee is now scheduled to meet this Wednesday to discuss the report and may potentially vote on whether to release it. In recent days, an increasing number of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said that they want to review and see the report the committee compiled as they consider and weigh Gaetz’s nomination.

The committee chair, Michael Guest, a Republican, told Politico on Monday that the panel would decide on its own whether to release the report, regardless of Speaker Mike Johnson’s desire to keep it under wraps.

The attorney John Clune, who, according to ABC News, represents the former minor, called for the release of the committee’s report last week.

“Mr Gaetz’s likely nomination as attorney general is a perverse development in a truly dark series of events,” Clune said. “We would support the House ethics committee immediately releasing their report. She was a high school student and there were witnesses.”