Allegations of sexual misconduct File with compromising information about Matt Gaetz hacked

The nomination of hardliner Matt Gaetz as Attorney General is fraught with controversy. Now a file containing confidential testimonies from women accusing Gaetz of sexual misconduct has been hacked.

In the midst of the heated debate about his nomination as US Attorney General, a suspected data leak is putting radical Republican Matt Gaetz under additional pressure. An unauthorized person has gained access to a file containing confidential testimony from women who have made allegations of sexual misconduct against Gaetz, according to lawyer Joel Leppard. The lawyers involved in the civil proceedings were only informed by email this week that the person had downloaded the documents.

The leak was first reported by the "New York Times". Among other things, the file contains unredacted statements from a woman with whom Gaetz is said to have had sex when she was 17 years old. A second woman stated that she had witnessed the alleged sex act at a party in Florida in 2017.

The document, which the unauthorized person was able to download according to attorney Leppard, is part of a defamation lawsuit filed by an employee of Gaetz against his former political ally Joel Greenberg. Greenberg pleaded guilty to sex trafficking with a minor in 2021. Greenberg admitted at the time that he had paid at least one underage girl to have sex with him and other men.

Gaetz himself has denied all allegations. The Department of Justice ended an investigation into the Florida congressman for sex trafficking without charges. However, the ethics committee of the House of Representatives continued its investigation - until Gaetz immediately resigned his congressional seat immediately after his nomination by former and future President Donald Trump. This ended the proceedings in the House of Representatives.

A number of Republicans in the Senate, which would have to confirm Gaetz, have expressed their unease about his nomination. Other party colleagues of the hardliner are keeping quiet about whether they would support his appointment to head the Department of Justice. The senators are also divided on the question of whether they should request a report from the House of Representatives' ethics committee. Although the Republicans secured a narrow majority in the Senate in the elections at the beginning of November, a few dissenters could stop the nomination of Trump's preferred candidate.

Gaetz has reportedly called undecided senators to make his case. This week, the Trump loyalist is also likely to meet with some members of the House. Gaetz's nomination has also caused considerable unrest among lawyers in the Department of Justice. Internally, his competence is being questioned. There is also concern about the possible prospect of a department head heading the very agency that investigated him for alleged sex trafficking. Trump has emphasized that he still stands by Gaetz. He is the right person "to root out the systemic corruption" in the department.