Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz reportedly showed other lawmakers, including while on the House floor, photos and videos of nude women and talked about having sex with them, according to CNN.
The report cites multiple anonymous sources, including two people who claim to have been shown the photos directly. The sources alleged that Gaetz talked about having sex with the women whose photos he displayed on his phone. One source claimed that a video showed a naked woman with a hula-hoop.
One of the sources said “it was a point of pride” for the representative, CNN reported. (RELATED: Wednesday Morning Dispatch: The Latest On The Matt Gaetz Sex Trafficking Accusations)
Gaetz said Tuesday he is the subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation that reportedly involves a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl. The congressman denied any allegation of wrongdoing and said he is a victim of a $25 million extortion plot.
There is no evidence to suggest the photos are connected to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) investigation into the sex trafficking allegations, CNN reported.
The allegations against me are FALSE.
The extortion of my family by a former DOJ official is REAL.
DOJ has the tapes.
Please release them.https://t.co/8OZPssAAYs
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) April 1, 2021
The DOJ opened the investigation into Gaetz at the end of the Trump administration, The New York Times reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.
“Over the past several weeks, my family and I have been victims of an organized criminal extortion involving a former DOJ official seeking $25 million while threatening to smear my name,” Gaetz said in a press release. “We have been cooperating with federal authorities in this matter and my father has even been wearing a wire at the FBI’s direction to catch these criminals.”
Gaetz alleged that a former federal prosecutor named David McGee who was “a top official in the leadership in the northern district of Florida as a prosecutor” was trying to extort him Tuesday night on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“The planted leak to the New York Times tonight was intended to thwart that investigation,” the press release continued. “No part of the allegations against me are true, and the people pushing these lies are targets of the ongoing extortion investigation. I demand the DOJ immediately release the tapes, made at their direction, which implicate their former colleague in crimes against me based on false allegations.”
Gaetz’s office did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller’s request for comment.