Career prosecutors recommend no charges for Gaetz in sex-trafficking probe
Source: Washington Post
Career prosecutors have recommended against charging Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in a long-running sex-trafficking investigation — telling Justice Department superiors that a conviction is unlikely in part because of credibility questions with the two central witnesses, according to people familiar with the matter.
Senior department officials have not made a final decision on whether to charge Gaetz, but it is rare for such advice to be rejected, these people told The Washington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations. They added that it is always possible additional evidence emerges that could alter prosecutors’ understanding of the case. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that federal authorities will charge Gaetz with a crime in an investigation that started in late 2020 and focused on his alleged involvement with a 17-year-old girl several years earlier.
Gaetz, 40, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, saying he has never paid for sex. He has also said the only time he had sex with a 17-year-old was when he was also 17. Gaetz’s lawyer, Isabelle Kirshner, declined to comment. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. Investigators set out to determine if the congressman paid for sex in violation of federal sex-trafficking laws and have examined his dealings with the then-17-year-old, people familiar with the matter have said. Earlier this year, a federal grand jury in Orlando heard testimony from associates of Gaetz, including an ex-girlfriend.
The ex-girlfriend was among several women on a trip Gaetz allegedly took to the Bahamas in 2018 that has been of particular interest to investigators. The 17-year-old at issue in the investigation was also on that trip, though by that time she was already 18 or older, people familiar with the matter have said. She has been a central witness in the investigation, but people familiar with the case said she is one of two people whose testimony has issues that veteran prosecutors feel would not pass muster with a jury.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/23/gaetz-no-charges-sex-trafficking/
No paywall link
= new reply since forum marked as read
and that was despite this nugget of guilt -
By Jacqueline Alemany and Amy Gardner
September 17, 2022 at 12:40 p.m. EDT
Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told a former White House aide that he was seeking a preemptive pardon from President Donald Trump regarding an investigation in which he is a target, according to testimony given to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Johnny McEntee, according to people familiar with his testimony, told investigators that Gaetz told him during a brief meeting “that they are launching an investigation into him or that there’s an investigation into him,” without specifying who was investigating Gaetz.
McEntee added that Gaetz told him “he did not do anything wrong but they are trying to make his life hell, and you know, if the president could give him a pardon, that would be great.” Gaetz told McEntee that he had asked White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for a pardon.
Asked by investigators if Gaetz’s request for a pardon was in the context of the Justice Department investigation into whether Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, McEntee replied, “I think that was the context, yes,” according to people familiar with the testimony who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
(snip)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/17/matt-gaetz-pardon-sex-trafficking-probe/
But I wouldn't be surprised if they get him on something else if they don't go forward... like this -
It’s not clear what roles Brian Babin and Louie Gohmert played in the December 2020 meeting preceding the U.S. Capitol attack that interrupted Congress’ certification of the vote.
by Eric Neugeboren July 12, 20226 PM Central
(snip)
The December 2020 meeting also included some of Trump’s most ardent Republican supporters in Congress, according to visitor logs obtained by the committee: Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Andy Harris of Maryland, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona, Jody Hice of Georgia, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia also attended.
(snip)
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/12/jan-6-committee-texans-brian-babin-louie-gohmert/
as Flynn, Bannon, or Stone. Those 3 were and still are, hard core criminals!
One system of justice for them, while the rest of us get tossed in the slammer. It's a special club, and we ain't in it! 
But I think we need to prepare ourselves for that exact outcome. History has shown. But I at least hope we can end his retirement and health care checks for him, and then until his Ho dies. I mean he never accepted pay (🤔
while in office, so why should tax payers give a traitor a benefits package for life, passed on to his, whatever the hell role she plays. She really doesn’t care, do we?
indicted, tried, convicted, and thrown in the slammer a long time ago.
Yep. What else is new? 
So one would think that someone admitting to requesting a "preemptive pardon" has some liability going on there.
It's also possible that as the "over-turning the election" investigation continues, he is one of the bullseyes that attended some big call in December 2020 -
Bryan Metzger
Jul 12, 2022, 3:41 PM
(snip)
The House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, offered new details on Tuesday about a meeting at the White House that involved several Republican members of Congress ahead of the meeting of the joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 presidential election.
(snip)
Vice President Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani, and Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff at the time, attended the meeting, along with President Donald Trump, Murphy said.
(snip)
Cipollone said he tried to attend the meeting himself but was apparently turned away.
Here are the 11 House Republicans who were at the meeting, according to the White House visitor logs obtained by the January 6 panel:
Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama Rep. Brian Babin of Texas Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia
The committee previously shared a number of Republicans who sought pardons from Trump in the final days of his administration. Six of the attendees of the December 21, 2020, meeting — Biggs, Brooks, Gaetz, Gohmert, Greene, and Perry — sought pardons.
https://www.businessinsider.com/house-republicans-white-house-meeting-december-21-2020-election-2022-7
This smells so bad. Just like the crap with Epstein and Acosta.
