这个女人是司法部长达一年调查的中心性贩运指控熟悉调查的消息人士告诉ABC新闻，周围的众议员Matt Gaetz向众议院道德委员会作证说，这位前佛罗里达州众议员在她17岁时与她发生了性关系。
当选总统唐纳德·特朗普周三宣布被窃听了担任司法部长，监督之前对他进行调查的政府部门，调查于去年结束，没有提出指控。
特朗普宣布辞职后，盖兹辞去了职务。消息人士称，这发生在众议院道德委员会调查的最后阶段，他们补充说，该委员会正准备在本周开会讨论是否发布最终报告在这件事上。
知情人士说，今年夏天，众议院道德委员会传唤了处于调查中心的女子，她现在20多岁，她坐了多天的证词，她向委员会作证说，Gaetz在高中未成年时与她发生了关系。
“这些指控是捏造的，将构成对国会的虚假证词，”盖兹在回应美国广播公司新闻的报道时说。"对这一历时三年的刑事调查后的虚假诽谤应该持极大的怀疑态度。"
司法部花了数年时间调查对盖兹的指控，包括妨碍司法公正的指控，然后在去年通知盖兹不起诉.
盖兹一直否认与司法部调查有关的任何不当行为。9月，他对众议院道德委员会(House Ethics Committee)向他提出的问题做出了详细回应，重申了他对这些指控的否认。该委员会一直在调查涉嫌性行为不端和非法使用药物的指控。
“你9月4日的来信询问我是否与任何18岁以下的人有过性行为。这个问题的答案是明确的不。你可以在每个论坛上对这个问题的每个版本做出回应，”盖兹在他的社交媒体账户上发布的一份声明中说。
“委员会的主要证人乔尔·格林伯格是一个重罪说谎者，他让别人也参与了他的谎言...格林伯格最初被指控试图诬陷当地一所高中的一名教师为恋童癖，”盖兹补充说，关于前塞米诺尔县税务员乔尔·格林伯格，他承认错误指控一名教师性犯罪，这名教师正在竞选他的职位。
该名女子对盖兹的指控成为调查的一部分，此前盖兹的前朋友格林伯格声称，他目前正在服11年徒刑达成交易在2021年5月的调查中，他承认了多项联邦罪行，包括在该女子未成年时对其进行性贩运，并将她介绍给其他“成年男子”，这些男子也在她未成年时与她发生了性关系。
根据格林伯格的认罪协议，美国广播公司新闻网(ABC News)没有透露该女子的身份，她在2017年与格林伯格在网上相遇，并开始在佛罗里达州中区的酒店和房子里与他见面，在那里他“将未成年人介绍给其他成年男子，这些成年男子在佛罗里达州中区与未成年人进行商业性行为，”法庭文件称。
当时，未成年人在她遇到格林伯格的网站上“表示她是成年人”,根据他的认罪协议，他承认他“不顾后果地无视未成年人在从事商业性行为时不到18岁的事实”,并且有“合理的机会观察到”她未成年。
在调查过程中，众议院道德委员会至少采访了六个女人消息人士告诉美国广播公司新闻，据称这些人参加了佛罗里达国会议员也在场的聚会，并由盖兹曾经的密友格林伯格付钱。根据消息来源，一些证人已被委员会传唤，而其他人同意合作。
众议院道德委员会也传唤了盖兹的前女友消息人士称，她今年早些时候参加了一次采访。据ABC新闻此前报道，这位前女友曾在性交易调查中向大陪审团作证。
消息人士称，该委员会还获得了盖兹前女友的一份宣誓书面声明，其中她将这位佛罗里达州议员列为2017年7月一场派对的与会者之一，当时达格也在场，据称盖兹未成年时与之发生性关系的女子也出席了派对。
美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)此前报道称，该委员会从一名单独的女性那里获得了书面证词，她说，2017年7月，她20岁时，在佛罗里达州参加了一场派对，盖兹也参加了这场派对，当时这名女性还是未成年人，那里有包括可卡因在内的毒品。
据消息人士称，格林伯格是司法部调查中的一名关键证人，他一直在配合众议院的道德调查。消息人士称，今年早些时候，在佛罗里达州联邦监狱服刑期间，他向委员会提供了书面证词。
消息人士称，一些证人看到了据称从Gaetz那里收到的Venmo付款。
正如ABC新闻此前报道的那样，多名消息人士告诉ABC新闻，一名女子说，她在2017年参加了Gaetz的一个派对，ABC新闻没有透露她的身份，她告诉委员会，Gaetz的付款是为了性。消息人士称，其他人说他们被付钱参加他们说盖兹也参加的聚会，这些聚会包括毒品和性。
盖兹长期以来一直否认所有指控，包括花钱买春，并声称“有人试图将我对前女友的慷慨重新归类为更不合适的事情”，从而驳回了这些指控。
消息人士称，今年早些时候，该委员会向司法部发出传票，索要与调查佛罗里达州议员相关的记录。尚不清楚这些记录是否被移交。
然而，消息人士告诉ABC新闻，委员会在向该公司发出传票后，从Gaetz那里获得了一些Venmo的记录。在司法部对盖兹进行调查期间，包括《每日野兽》在内的公开报道主要集中在格林伯格的Venmo记录上，根据他的认罪协议，他使用自己的账户与他介绍给他人的女性“支付商业性行为”。
Woman testified to House Ethics Committee that Gaetz had sex with her when she was 17: Sources
The woman who was at the center of a yearslong Justice Department investigation intosex trafficking allegationssurrounding Rep. Matt Gaetz testified to the House Ethics Committee that the now-former Florida congressman had sex with her when she was 17 years old, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Gaetzhad been tappedto serve as attorney general, overseeing the very branch of government that previously conducted its own investigation of him, which ended last year without charges being brought.
Gaetz resigned from office following Trump's announcement. This came as the House Ethics Committee was in the final stages of its investigation, said sources, who added that the committee was preparing to meet this week to deliberate over whether torelease a final reporton the matter.
Over the summer, the House Ethics Committee subpoenaed the woman at the center of the probe -- who is now in her 20s -- and she sat for multiple days of testimony where she testified to the committee that Gaetz had sex with her when she was a minor in high school, sources close to the investigation said.
"These allegations are invented and would constitute false testimony to Congress," Gaetz said in response to ABC News' reporting. "This false smear following a three-year criminal investigation should be viewed with great skepticism."
The Justice Department spent years probing the allegations against Gaetz, including allegations of obstruction of justice, before informing Gaetz last year that it wouldnot bring charges.
Gaetz has long denied any wrongdoing related to the Justice Department probe. In September, he released a detailed response to questions sent to him by the House Ethics Committee, which has been investigating allegations of alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, reiterating his denial of the allegations.
"Your correspondence of September 4 asks whether I have engaged in sexual activity with any individual under 18. The answer to this question is unequivocally NO. You can apply this response to every version of this question, in every forum," Gaetz said in a statement posted to his social media account.
"The Committee’s star witness, Joel Greenberg, is a felonious liar who involves others in his lies ... Greenberg was initially indicted for attempting to falsely smear a teacher at a local high school as a pedophile," Gaetz added regarding former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg, who pleaded guilty to falsely accusing a teacher, who was running for office against him, of a sex crime.
The woman's allegation regarding Gaetz became part of the investigation following claims by Greenberg, a former friend of Gaetz who is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence afterreaching a dealwith investigators in May 2021 in which he pleaded guilty to multiple federal crimes, including sex trafficking of the woman when she was a minor and introducing her to other "adult men" who also had sex with her when she was underage.
According to Greenberg's plea deal, the woman, who ABC News is not identifying, met Greenberg online in 2017 and began meeting him in hotels and houses in the Middle District of Florida, where he "introduced the Minor to other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts with the Minor in the Middle District of Florida," court documents said.
At the time, the minor "represented that she was an adult" on the website where she met Greenberg -- and according to his plea agreement, he acknowledges that he "acted in reckless disregard of the fact that the Minor was less than 18 years old when he engaged in commercial sex acts" and had a "reasonable opportunity to observe" that she was underage.
Over the course of its investigation, the House Ethics Committee conducted interviews with at leasthalf a dozen womenwho allegedly attended parties where the Florida congressman was also present, and who were paid by Greenberg, Gaetz's one-time close friend, sources told ABC News. Some of the witnesses had been subpoenaed by the committee, while others agreed to cooperate, according to the sources.
The House Ethics Committee also subpoenaedGaetz's former girlfriendfor testimony, and said she sat for an interview earlier in the year, sources said. The former girlfriend previously testified to a grand jury in the sex trafficking probe, as ABC News previously reported.
The committee has also obtained a sworn written statement by Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend where she lists the Florida congressman as one of the attendees at a party in July 2017 where dugs were present and which was attended by the woman who Gaetz allegedly had sex with when she was a minor, sources said.
ABC News previously reported that the committee obtained written testimony from a separate woman who said that in July 2017, when she was 20 years old, she attended a party in Florida that Gaetz also attended, and which was attended by the woman who was a minor at the time and where drugs including cocaine were present.
Greenberg, a key witness in the Justice Department probe, has been cooperating with the House Ethics investigation, according to sources. Earlier this year, while serving time in a Florida federal prison, he provided written testimony to the committee, the sources said.
Some witnesses were shown Venmo payments they allegedly received from Gaetz, sources said.
As ABC News previously reported, one woman who said she attended a party with the Gaetz in 2017, who ABC News is not identifying, told the committee that a payment from Gaetz was for sex, multiple sources told ABC News. Others have said they were paid to attend parties they said Gaetz also attended, and that those parties included drugs and sex, the sources said.
Gaetz has long denied all of the allegations, including paying for sex, and previously dismissed them by claiming "someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward."
Earlier in the year the committee subpoenaed the Justice Department for records related to its probe into the Florida congressman, sources said. It is unclear if those records were turned over.
However, the committee had obtained some Venmo records from Gaetz after issuing the company a subpoena, sources told ABC News. During the Justice Department's investigation into Gaetz, public reporting, including by The Daily Beast, largely focused on Venmo records from Greenberg, who, according to his plea agreement, used his account to "pay for commercial sex acts" with women he also introduced to others.
