Trump Picks Matt Gaetz Who Once Faced Sex Trafficking Investigation By The Justice Department As Its Head (image @mattgaetz)
Washington DC, US: Donald Trump picked Matt Gaetz, who was once caught in the web of sex trafficking probe, as the head of the same Justice Department which investigated the cases. He has been under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee over the allegations including sexual misconduct. The probe effectively ended when Gaetz resigned from the Congress.
The committee probed on the allegations that Gaetz was part of a scheme that led to the sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl.
Announcing Gaetz as his Attorney General, Trump said Gaetz would root out “systemic corruption” at the Justice Department and return the department “to its true mission of fighting crime and upholding our democracy and constitution”. Taking to his X account, Gaetz wrote that, “It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!”
It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General! pic.twitter.com/dg0iQ0bA6Y
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) November 13, 2024
Gaetz has been embroiled in scandals for years that threaten to derail his confirmation as the nation’s top federal law enforcement officer by the Republican-led Senate, said AP.
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The Staunch Trump supporter had denied all the allegations held against him by the Justice Department, and said that the department’s investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls had ended with no federal charges against him.
Reportedly, Trump’s Attorney General is expected to oversee the radical changes to the Justice Department, which has been at the receiving end of the President-elect’s ire over two criminal cases it has brought accusing him of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Casting himself as the victim of political persecutions, Trump has repeatedly vowed to carry out retribution against his political enemies during his campaign trail.
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The federal sex trafficking investigation started during Trump’s first term, and was under Attorney General Bill Barr. It focused on allegations that Gaetz and Joel Greenberg paid underage girls, and escorts or offered them gifts in exchange for sex.
Greenberg, who is also a Republican who served as the tax collector in Florida’s Seminole County, admitted as part of a plea deal that he paid women and an underage girl to have sex with him and other men, reported AP. The men were not identified in the court documents, and Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison in late 2022.
