The attorney for two women accusing former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz with paying them for sex told Newsweek that his clients do not want to testify during the Senate's confirmation process.
Florida attorney Joel Leppard told Newsweek that his clients have already testified in front of the House Ethics Committee and that they are not looking to do so more publicly in front of the Senate during Gaetz's confirmation process. The former representative was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to become Attorney General. Leppard said his clients will only testify "if they are required to do so."
"They do not want to testify on the floor. They do not want their identities to be known," Leppard said. "They want to move on with their lives and for the American public to make the decision."
Newsweek reached out to a representative for Gaetz for comment.
The probe stems from accusations that Gaetz was involved in recruiting women online for sex, including a 17-year-old girl. The Department of Justice (DOJ) last year told Gaetz that he would not face federal sex-trafficking charges.
Leppard said one of his clients witnessed Gaetz having sex with another woman who was then 17 years old by the pool area at a house party in Florida.
The then-17-year-old victim and one of Leppard's clients were friends from high school and are still friends, he said. Leppard's two clients met at one of Gaetz's parties in 2017. They moved out of Orlando together to "get away."
The attorney's two clients have said they also were paid for sex with Gaetz. The House Ethics Committee put payments on the screen and asked them about it during their testimony.
"One client detailed over $6,000 in payments directly from Representative Gaetz," Leppard said. "For the other client, it was over $4,000"
Leppard said the payments for one woman were from Paypal "early on" and "later he went on to Venmo."
"I have no idea why that took place," Leppard said. "I think a lot of people switched to Venmo."
Gaetz has vehemently denied that he did anything improper and blames the accusations on a smear campaign. He posted to X that the allegations began under former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
"The House Ethics Committee has closed four probes into me, which emerged from lies intended solely to smear me," Gaetz wrote. "Instead of working with me to ban Congressional stock trading, the Ethics Committee is now opening new frivolous investigations. They are doing this to avoid the obvious fact that every investigation into me ends the same way: my exoneration.
"This is Soviet. Kevin McCarthy showed them the man, and they are now trying to find the crime. I work for Northwest Floridians who won't be swayed by this nonsense and McCarthy and his goons know it."
A report from The Daily Beast identified two Venmo transactions Gaetz had in 2018 with Joe Greenberg, an accused sex trafficker, for a total of $900. Greenberg then sent the money to three teen girls in transactions labeled "tuition" and "school."
In February 2023, the DOJ informed Gaetz that he would not face federal sex-trafficking charges over allegations that he was involved in recruiting women online for sex.
Along with investigating Gaetz for sexual misconduct, the committee is looking into allegations of illicit drug use, sharing inappropriate images on the House floor, misusing state identification records, converting campaign funds to personal use and accepting a bribe or impermissible gift.
During a CNN appearance on Tuesday night, Leppard suggested that testimony from his clients is "just a fraction" of evidence likely to be in the ethics report, arguing that evidence to support ethical violations by Gaetz is likely to be "overwhelming."
"You have to understand my clients are only two out of the over a dozen witnesses that testified," Leppard told CNN's Erin Burnett. "I was present for two of those. So, what I'm telling you is just a fraction of evidence that's available, of the thousands of documents and the 25 subpoenas, 12 witnesses."
When Newsweek asked him his thoughts about Gaetz's nomination, Leppard did not comment.
"I'm not here to think about my personal thoughts about this nomination," Leppard said. "It's really about advocating for my clients and asking that they not be forced to testify in front of the Senate."
Gaetz resigned as a Florida lawmaker almost immediately after Trump announced his nomination. This move ended the Ethics Committee's probe into his alleged misconduct.
"I think that the American people can decide for themselves why Representative Gaetz resigned right before the report came out," Leppard said, adding that he will most likely know as soon as the rest of the public if the report is to be released.
The House Ethics Committee is expected to meet Wednesday to discuss releasing its report.
Evidence purportedly included in the report, including sworn testimony from a woman who alleges to have had sex with Gaetz when she was a minor, was reportedly downloaded in a hacking incident on Monday, although the materials remain publicly unreleased.
"We're really hoping to see what happens today and then we'll take it day by day," Leppard said.
Senate Democrats request case files from FBI
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and other Democrats are requesting the evidence files on Gaetz's alleged sex trafficking. They penned a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday, as reported by The Washington Post.
The Post said the documents would include interviews with the then-17-year-old woman who was paid to have sex with Gaetz.
"The grave public allegations against Mr. Gaetz speak directly to his fitness to serve as the chief law enforcement officer for the federal government," the Democrats wrote. "The unanswered questions regarding Mr. Gaetz's alleged conduct are particularly significant given that his associate, Joel Greenberg, pleaded guilty to the sex trafficking charge for which Mr. Gaetz was also investigated."
On Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters he was "going to request that the ethics committee not release the report," adding to the unlikelihood the investigation sees the light of day.
Senator John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said the upcoming vote for Gaetz to potentially become attorney general will show what his Republican colleagues really think about him.
"But really the Dems' opinion on Gaetz, that's not really what's interesting," Fetterman told reporters. "What to me is interesting is, the good ones [opinions] are gonna come by my colleagues on the other side, the GOP, on how they can justify voting for that j******."
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