Damn, we can’t even get through one underage sex trafficking scandal linked to Donald Trump without getting an update on another one!
Matt Gaetz was never charged with any crimes, but at least his political career came to an end thanks to some key public reporting! If you didn’t follow the case, the Florida Congressman was revealed to have paid hundreds of dollars to some very young girls — something which got exposed for all to see because he paid on Venmo of all things! There were reportedly sex- and drug-fueled parties in Florida with multiple politicians and young women. His pal Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty, but Gaetz — a sitting congressman and pal of Trump — that DOJ case just never went anywhere.
But the House Ethics Committee did a full report that collected evidence he actually spent tens of thousands of dollars on cocaine and other illegal drugs — and over $90,000 on prostitutes — from 2017 to 2020, all while he was a sitting member of Congress. Most disturbingly, one of those girls was just 17 years old.
Related: Jeffrey Epstein Called Trump ‘Evil Beyond Belief’: ‘None As Bad As Trump’
Again, no charges… but he did resign from Congress and then withdraw as Trump’s nominee for — get this — Attorney General. Yes, Trump’s first choice for AG in his second term wasn’t Pam Bondi, who is now being accused of helping to cover up underage sex trafficking. It was a man who was under investigation for personally engaging in underage sex trafficking. He allegedly took the 17-year-old girl across state lines to act as his prostitute, which turns it into sex trafficking.
It’s taken a long time, but more has finally been uncovered about just who this young woman was — and it may give you a very different picture of the crimes laid out by House Ethics.
You may have heard she was a 17-year-old who lied about being 18 on a website for older guys looking for young girls. Plenty probably even have had a Megyn Kelly-ish view of her as less of a child and more of a “barely legal type.” As in, Gaetz “barely” did anything wrong. But The New York Times did some digging, and what they found will absolutely demolish that image.
A federal judge in Florida unsealed documents from a civil case last month, and they reveal what this kid really was: “a then-homeless 17-year-old high schooler.” Yeah. Ick. The Times contacted the girl’s lawyer, who confirmed details about this girl’s circumstances when she met Matt Gaetz.
She was a junior in high school. One of her parents was living in a homeless shelter, which is where she and her siblings were staying half the time as well. She did what a lot of kids do for their first work experience: she got a job at McDonald’s. But it wasn’t enough money. So she turned to a “‘sugar dating’ website that primarily connected older men and younger women seeking ‘mutually beneficial relationships’” per the Ethics Committee report. Greenberg hired her from there, plying her with drugs and paying her $400 to have sex with him. They had sex for money seven times, all while she 17.
The Republican Party
Greenberg eventually invited her, along with other young girls, to attend a party for Florida Republicans. A party described in court documents as being made up of “alcohol; cocaine; middle-aged men; and young attractive females.” Gross.
At this party, the teen danced naked in front of the homeowner, former state representative Chris Dorworth — who had gone private as a lobbyist with Ballard Partners, which was run by a major Trump fundraiser. There she met then-35-year-old Matt Gaetz. A man over twice her age, old enough to be her father. The 17-year-old testified before Congress that she had sex with him twice at the party, including on a “pool table or … air hockey table.” She said Dorworth saw this and “laughed about it with other partygoers”. She was paid $400.
Eventually the teen moved from Florida to Texas, to stay with other family. The money she made from having sex multiple times with Gaetz and others? It was enough to get her out of there AND to pay an orthodontist. See, the girl was saving up for braces. They’re expensive, and her parents couldn’t afford them.
Braces. Saving money to pay for her own braces. Not only was this a child, she was a child in such poverty that she had to sell her body for the money to get braces. That’s who was brought to this house party for middle-aged Florida Republicans.
Y’all still want to argue this wasn’t underage sex trafficking? As the teen’s attorney Laura B. Wolf explained:
“Power imbalances can be age, but they can also be financial. My client had little economic security, which allowed for financial leverage over her.”
She noted the “vulnerable circumstances most crime victims face are rarely known to the public” and hopes it helps everyone “to see a fuller and more human picture of her than the press has reported on to date.”
We hope so, too.
[Image via MEGA/WENN.]
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