Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) are going on tour in May to "attack Democrats and Republicans they deem insufficiently loyal to former President Donald Trump," Politico reports. "The idea is to send a message from the two controversial Republicans: They're not canceled, they're not going to be quiet, and the infamy their critics attribute to them is translatable as fame and power in the conservative movement."
Meanwhile, the hits keep coming in the FBI's investigation into Gaetz's alleged violations of federal sex trafficking laws. The progenitor of the investigation, former Florida tax collector Joel Greenberg, confessed in writing that both he and Gaetz paid for sex with women and had sex with a 17-year-old girl, The Daily Beast reported Thursday night, citing multiple versions of a confession note and screenshots of encrypted text messages with Trump ally Roger Stone.
Greenberg, arrested in August and subsequently charged with 33 counts of criminal violations, contacted Stone in December to see if he could obtain a pardon from Trump, The Daily Beast reports. Stone finally informed Greenberg that the effort had failed, in part because Gaetz "told me not to help you which I tried to do anyway."
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"On more than one occasion," the 17-year-old girl at the center of the case "was involved in sexual activities with several of the other girls, the congressman from Florida's 1st Congressional District, and myself," Greenberg reportedly acknowledged in a letter Stone requested as part of the pardon effort. "From time to time, gas money or gifts, rent, or partial tuition payments were made to several of these girls, including the individual who was not yet 18," on behalf of Gaetz.
Greenberg wrote that he and Gaetz believed the girl was 19 when they first had sex with her, and when they found out she was underage, "there was no further contact with this individual until after her 18th birthday."
Greenberg texted Stone on Dec. 21 that the feds were pressuring him to flip on Gaetz, he had fired his lawyers for backing the idea, and those lawyers know Gaetz "paid me to pay the girls and that he and I both had sex with the girl who was underage," The Daily Beast reports. Gaetz asserted through a PR firm that he "has never paid for sex nor has he had sex with a 17 year old as an adult." Read more at The Daily Beast.
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