Hacker Steals File With Testimony From Accusers of Matt Gaetz: Report

An unknown hacker has obtained a copy of testimony from a woman who was 17 years old when she allegedly had sex with Matt Gaetz in 2017, according to a shocking new report from the New York Times. The hacker nabbed the computer file through a secure link shared among lawyers who are representing the women who allege they had sex with Gaetz and sold him illegal drugs, charges the former congressman from Florida denies.

The file, which doesn’t appear to have leaked publicly yet, includes 24 exhibits, with the most potentially damaging exhibit being testimony from a woman who says she was 17 when Gaetz had sex with her, according to the Times. The file also includes corroborating testimony from a woman who said she personally witnessed the sexual encounter, an allegation that first became public over the weekend when the story was reported by ABC News.

Whoever accessed the file used the name Altam Beezley at precisely 1:23 p.m. ET on Monday, according to the Times. One of the lawyers connected to the case reportedly tried to email this Beezley, but received a bounceback email notifying the sender the email address doesn’t exist.

Gaetz has been in the headlines nonstop ever since he was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to become the Attorney General of the U.S., a highly controversial choice given the Department of Justice investigations into the former congressman. To say nothing of the fact that even his own colleagues didn’t seem to know Gaetz was a lawyer. Gaetz resigned his position in Congress immediately after the nomination by Trump was announced, a very odd move for someone who had just been re-elected just a couple of weeks ago.

Gaetz was investigated by the House Committee on Ethics over the incident of alleged sexual misconduct and drug use but it’s unclear whether the final report will ever be released. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a fellow Republican and ally of Trump, has said he will “strongly request” the report not be released. Gaetz was also investigated by the Department of Justice for years over alleged sex trafficking and his alleged sex with a minor but charges were never brought in that case.

Curiously, the documents that were hacked on Monday don’t appear to stem from the House Committee on Ethics investigation but instead come from evidence in a civil lawsuit brought by Gaetz’s friend Christopher Dorworth, according to the Times. Dorworth claims he was defamed by Joel Greenberg, another friend of Gaetz who’s currently serving an 11-year sentence for sex trafficking the woman who says she was 17 when Gaetz allegedly had sex with her.

The 24 exhibits that were hacked were reportedly prepared by the unnamed woman and her lawyer and include testimony from Dorworth, Dorworth’s wife, and Michael Fischer, Gaetz’s former campaign treasurer who was allegedly at one of the sex parties, according to the Times. The file even has gate logs that show who was arriving during the party in question, which happened in July 2017, according to the newspaper.

Even Fox News host Trey Gowdy warned against confirming Gaetz on Tuesday morning, given the current controversy and his pledge to punish Trump’s political enemies.

“Do not use the justice system as a weapon. The message for Republicans is don’t do it on the other side either, with this absurd AG pick that you just made,” said Gowdy.

Whatever is in those files that were hacked is “said to be more damaging to Mr. Gaetz than to his accusers,” according to the Times. So the world will have to just wait to see whether this gets leaked. Because it’s hard to believe whoever was behind the computer intrusion intends to just sit on this information forever.